Fierce Clashes in Iraq Kill 34

[papau]

Thirty-four people, including one American soldier, were killed in clashes with insurgent followers of Moqtada al Sadr in Sadr City today, and 193 were wounded -The U.S. military described the four deaths of Americans since midday Monday as : One soldier from the Army's 13th Corps Support Command who was killed when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb near the Iraqi capital late Monday --- One Task Force Baghdad soldier who died early Tuesday from wounds sustained from a roadside bombing of his convoy a day earlier in Baghdad --- One soldier with Task Force Baghdad who died Monday from wounds sustained during an unspecified attack in Baghdad --- A soldier from the 13th Coscom who was killed in a roadside bomb attack near Qayarrah, just north of Baghdad. If any are keeping track of Iraqi deaths, perhaps more noteworthy than the average are the son of the governor of the northern city of Mosul being killed in a drive-by shooting Tuesday ---the Unknown gunmen killing the deputy director of Baghdad's al-Karama hospital --- and the two Iraqi policemen were killed and two others injured in a drive-by shooting in Latifiyah, 25 miles south of Baghdad late Monday, police said. Seems none of the above made cable news.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iraq,0,2153642.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

Fierce Clashes in Iraq Kill 34
By HAMZA HENDAWI Associated Press Writer

September 7, 2004, 10:49 AM EDT

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. forces battled insurgents loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City on Tuesday, in clashes that killed 34 people, including one American soldier, and wounded 193, U.S. and Iraqi authorities said.

U.S. tanks moved into the neighborhood and armored personnel carriers and Bradley fighting vehicles were deployed at key intersections. Ambulances with sirens wailing rushed the wounded to hospitals as plumes of black smoke rose over the mainly Shiite neighborhood.

Warplanes flew over the sprawling neighborhood of more than 2 million, firing flares to avoid being hit by anti-aircraft missiles.

Four other soldiers were killed in separate incidents in and around Baghdad, including two members of the 13 Corps Support Command.

In the past two days, 12 Americans have been killed, bringing to 995 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to a count by The Associated Press based on Defense Department reports.

In another part of the capital, a roadside bomb targeted the Baghdad governor's convoy, killing two people but leaving him uninjured, the Interior Ministry said. Three of Gov. Ali al-Haidri's bodyguards were also hurt. <snip>