- BAGHDAD (IslamOnline.net
& News Agencies) - Two U.S. soldiers and five Iraqis were killed in
fresh attacks rocking the violence-torn country Tuesday, November 4, and
late Monday, as U.S. President George W. Bush vowed his troops will ìnever
runî from Iraq.
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- One U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded when
an explosive device blew up in Baghdad Tuesday, according to a military
spokeswoman.
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- "We had one soldier killed in Baghdad by an improvised
explosive device (IED) and one wounded this morning at 10:10 (0710 GMT),"
she was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.
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- "I assume it was an American but we still need to
confirm this," the spokeswoman said.
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- The U.S. occupation forces announced earlier in the day
that one American soldier was killed and another wounded, also in an IED
attack, in the northern Iraqi town of Tikrit Monday.
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- The soldierís death raised to 140 the number of
U.S. troops who have died in Iraq since May 1, when Washington declared
major combat was over, according to an AFP count based on the latest information
provided by the Pentagon.
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- Three mortars hit Baghdad, one landing at a U.S. army
facility. There were no casualties reported, the U.S. military said.
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- In the northern oil province of Kirkuk a bomb exploded
close to a police station, a mortar shell exploded in a schoolyard and
a truck carrying concrete security blocks for the U.S. occupation forces
was set ablaze, police said.
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- The U.S. occupation forces blame the growing attacks
on its forces on the remnants of the former regime.
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- But observers said that anti-American sentiments rising
among ordinary Iraqis who are jeered by the continued occupation and lack
of security or basic services, should be taken into consideration.
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- Iraqi Death Toll Rising
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- Meanwhile, three Iraqis were killed and four wounded
when a bomb exploded near a hotel in the Shiite holy city of Karbala in
central Iraq, police sources told IslamOnline.net.
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- The bomb exploded near the Baratha hotel behind Al-Mukhayam
mosque, according to witness Ibrahim al-Juburi.
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- Another Iraqi was at least killed and seven others injured
in an attack on a bus by unknown gunmen in Baaquba, some 65 kms to the
northeast of Baghdad.
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- Six Iraqi citizens were killed and wounded in U.S. army
fire in Balad, some 70 kms to the north of Baghdad, Iraqi police reports
and eyewitnesses told IOL.
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- A judge in the Appeal Court in the northern Iraqi city
of Mosul was killed. It gave no further details, al-Jazeera reported earlier
on Tuesday.
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- The attack came a few hours after a judge chairing the
Najaf Tribunal and the investigative commission was shot dead Monday after
an apparent kidnapping.
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- Many Iraqis are seething with anger against those officials
appointed by the U.S.-sponsored councils of governmental bodies, accusing
them of being collaborators.
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- An American military spokesman also said the town of
Ramadi, some 110 kms to the west of Baghdad, witnessed the killing of six
Syrians in an attack on their hiding place by U.S. occupation forces.
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- Washington has charged that a large number of Syrians
have been among Arab and foreign fighters who penetrated into Iraq before
and after the invasion of Iraq in March, and have been behind a series
of attacks that killed and wounded dozens of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens.
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- But Syria vehemently denied the claims, saying they are
rather meant to cover up for the rising casualty toll among its troops.
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- ëNever Runí
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- Faced with a mounting military and civilian death toll
and stiffening guerrilla resistance, Bush vowed Monday that the United
States would not run from its "vital" mission in Iraq.
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- "Some of the best have fallen in service to our
fellow Americans. We mourn every loss, we honor every name, we grieve with
every family and we will always be grateful that liberty has found such
brave defenders," Bush said in a speech.
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- "The enemy in Iraq believes America will run. That's
why they're willing to kill innocent civilians, relief workers, coalition
troops. America will never run," he vowed.
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- His comments came shortly before the U.S. Senate approved
the White House's latest spending request for stabilizing and rebuilding
in Iraq and Afghanistan, an 87.5 billion dollar measure the House of Representatives
passed last week.
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- Observers said the rising U.S. military death toll in
Iraq has hurt Bush, now facing a credibility crisis among the Iraqis, as
no weapons of mass destructions have been found as attacks against American
troops continue unabated.
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- An ABC-Washington Post poll published Sunday found that,
for the first time, a majority of Americans surveyed disapprove of Bush's
handling of Iraq.
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- The survey said only 47 percent of the public approves
of Bush's handling of Iraq, down from more than 70 percent in April.
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- Also, the U.S. leaderís bold statements did not
dissipate the fears of other countries to send troops to Iraq.
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- Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview
published on Tuesday that Moscow is not considering sending troops to help
the U.S.-led occupying forces in oil-rich Iraq because the conditions are
not right.
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- "At the moment we're not even considering it. The
conditions for Russian military participation are not right," Putin
told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
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- "From the start we opposed military intervention
(in Iraq). It would be incoherent and stupid today to say we were prepared
to send troopsî.
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- The Russian president, scheduled to arrive in the Italian
capital on Tuesday evening for a Russia-European Union summit and to meet
Pope John Paul II, offered his condolences to Washington for its troop
losses in Iraq.
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- http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2003-11/04/article03.shtml
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