Iraqi mob beats bodies of slain U.S. soldiers

Toronto Star

Nov. 23, 2003.

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi teenagers dragged two bloodied American soldiers from a wrecked vehicle, pummelled them with concrete blocks and slit their throats today, witnesses said, describing a burst of savagery in a city once safe for Americans. Another soldier was killed by a bomb and a U.S.-allied police chief was assassinated.

Nevertheless, American officers insisted they were making progress in bringing stability to Iraq.

The 101st Airborne Division said the soldiers were driving to another garrison. About a dozen swarming teenagers dragged the soldiers out of the wreckage and beat them with concrete blocks, the witnesses said. "They lifted a block and hit them with it on the face," said Younis Mahmoud, 19. The bodies were seen with their throats cut. It was unknown whether the soldiers were alive or dead when pulled from the wreckage. Another teenager, Bahaa Jassim, said some looted the vehicle of weapons, CDs and a backpack.

"They remained there for over an hour without the Americans knowing anything about it," he said. "I... went and told other troops."

Television video showed the soldiers' bodies splayed on the ground as U.S. troops secured the area. One victim's foot appeared to have been severed. The frenzy recalled the October 1993 scene in Somalia, when locals dragged the bodies of marines killed in fighting with warlords through the streets.

.

In Baghdad, Brig.-Gen. Mark Kimmitt confirmed the Mosul deaths but refused to provide details. "We're not going to get ghoulish about it," he said. The savagery of the attack was unusual for Mosul, once touted as a success story in sharp contrast to the anti-American violence seen in Sunni Muslim areas north and west of Baghdad. In recent weeks, however, attacks against U.S. troops have increased in Mosul, raising concerns the insurgency is spreading