Journalist, seven U.S.-trained police recruits killed in Baghdad
( 2003-07-06 13:45) (Agencies)
A British journalist was shot and killed outside the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad on Saturday, witnesses said. The shooting, which follows a bomb blast that killed seven U.S.-trained police cadets earlier in the day, comes amid almost daily attacks on coalition troops in recent weeks. So far, however, there has been no sign of foreign journalists in Iraq being explicitly targeted.
The identity of the journalist, a freelance television producer, was not immediately known. Fellow journalists, asking that their names not be used, said the male journalist was outside museum when he was shot. An American soldier guarding the museum was shot and killed by a sniper on Thursday.
The British Foreign Office contacted in London confirmed that a man had been shot but said details were still sketchy.
"We are urgently investigating reports of a British freelance journalist being shot today in Baghdad," a spokesman said.
The foreign office was trying to identify the body of a man thought to be in his mid-20s, at which stage next of kin will be informed."
The death brings to 16 the number of journalists killed in Iraq since the start of the war on March 20.
ANGER IN RAMADI
Meantime, in the western city of Ramadi, the site of the attack on the police cadets, mosque loudspeakers wailed for blood donations for the wounded. Angry Iraqis said the victims had been told that collaborating with the Americans would come to no good.
The attack came a day after Arab media aired an audiotape in which the speaker, purported to be Saddam Hussein, calls on Iraqis to back the resistance and stop helping the Americans.
The graduating police were marching from a boys school where they underwent five days of training to a nearby government building when the blast occurred, said Mahmoud Hamad, a 23-year-old survivor with wounds to his right arm and leg.
"Beside my injuries, I can't hear anymore," Hamad said from his gurney at Ramadi General Hospital.
The U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which oversees Ramadi, reported seven people killed and 40 more wounded. None of the casualties were Americans, Capt. Michael Calvert said.
"These were new recruits that had just finished joint training with us," Calvert said.
The blast came from a TNT-filled bag of rice that was detonated by remote control, said Maj. Anthony Aguto. He said U.S. soldiers planned to question Ramadi residents Saturday night in hopes of finding information on the bombers.
Calvert said the explosion was "not the result of any coalition actions or accidents."
WORK OF 'DESPERATE MEN'
L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. official in Iraq, said the attack was the work of "desperate men."
"Those who refuse to embrace the new Iraq are clearly panicking," Bremer said. "They are turning their sights on Iraqis themselves. Today, they have killed innocent Iraqis with the same disdain for their own citizens they showed for 35 years."
He added that "every evidence we have" indicates a recent spate of insurgent attacks is the work of "small groups of desperate men."
Dr. Irfan Abdul Razzak said 54 people were wounded Saturday, with 15 victims undergoing emergency surgery. The hospital's emergency ward was covered in blood, and victims filled the corridors waiting for treatment.
"The entire staff is coming to the hospital," Razzak said.
Outside, scores of relatives waited for news of their loved ones. Women in black chadors beat their heads in anguish, many sobbing and screaming.
"The explosion was so loud it was heard all over the city," Iraqi police Lt. Hamed Ali said.
Hours later, at least three U.S. helicopters hovered over the scene, and military vehicles roamed the city. U.S. soldiers at the blast site refused to comment, saying they were still investigating what happened. U.S. military officials in Baghdad said they had no information.
STRONGHOLD OF SUPPORT FOR SADDAM
Even as they step up their ambushes on U.S. troops, Iraqi insurgents have begun targeting the security services and civilian infrastructure U.S. forces are trying to rebuild, such as police forces, oil pipelines and Baghdad's electricity grid.
Ramadi, one of several Sunni-majority towns along the Euphrates River west of Baghdad, was a stronghold of support for Saddam, and has been the site of frequent attacks that have killed Americans as well as Iraqis.
Many of the victims of Saturday's bombing blamed America for the attack.
"The Americans have done it. Who else would do a thing like this?" said police instructor Abdel-Karim Hamadi, who was waiting for treatment at the hospital.
One elderly Iraqi, speaking in the corridor of the emergency ward, shouted: "That is what you get for working with the Americans. They have all been warned before."
He would not give his name.
Saddam loyalists reportedly have been telling Iraqis in villages and markets that the leader is preparing a comeback and would punish those cooperating with the U.S. occupation.
PURPORTED MESSAGE FROM SADDAM
The purported message from Saddam that aired Friday on the Arab television station Al-Jazeera could energize anti-U.S. forces and deepen the ongoing insurgency.
It was not clear how much the tape's inflammatory message would resonate with ordinary Iraqis, who suffered under Saddam's brutal rule for decades. Most say they are overwhelmingly pleased at his ouster, though skeptical of U.S. and British motives in occupying their land.
But there are fears it might energize hardcore resistance fighters who have launched daily attacks on U.S. troops.
Although U.S. officials insist the attacks on Americans are not centrally organized, a 50-man ambush on a U.S. convoy near Baghdad on Friday appeared to demonstrate new organizational and weapons capabilities by anti-coalition fighters in Iraq, officials told The Washington Post.
In a report published on the Post's Web site late Friday night, the newspaper quoted an official as saying he had not heard of an attack involving as many as 50 people working together.
At least 27 U.S. troops have been killed in hostile fire since May 1, when President Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq.
U.S. DETAINS TURKISH FORCES
In a separate development, U.S. troops raided a Turkish special forces office in northern Iraq and detained 11 soldiers, further straining U.S.-Turkey diplomatic ties. A Turkish newspaper reported the men were detained after rumors that they were plotting to kill a senior Iraqi official in Kirkuk, 175 miles north of Baghdad.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the detentions an "ugly incident" and demanded the soldiers' release. The United States was responding, releasing some of the soldiers by Saturday evening, but not all, Erdogan said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell called Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to advise him that a total of 24 detainees, including the Turkish soldiers, were taken to Baghdad, Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported. Powell also confirmed that some of the detainees had been released, without giving any numbers, Anatolia added.
The State Department confirmed that Powell called Gul but provided no details.
Aside from the Turkish soldiers, U.S. troops also detained security guards and staff working at the office, reports said.
Anatolia said Gul told Powell that the issue could harm bilateral relations, stressing that the Turkish public opinion was "sensitive" to the issue.
About 100 U.S. troops staged the raid in the city of Sulaymaniyah on Friday, a Turkish government official said. The soldiers were taken to Kirkuk.
Officials at the Habur border gate, the sole crossing point for aid and goods between Turkey and Iraq, said Saturday the gate had been closed. Private Turkish NTV television and other news reports said the move was in retaliation for the soldiers' detention.
The incident further strained relations between NATO allies Turkey and the United States, which are already at a low over the Turkish parliament's refusal in March to allow thousands of U.S. combat troops in the country for an Iraq war.
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