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FOX Spews

Saturday, June 28, 2003



At least 61 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since major combat ended May 1, including at least 23 in attacks.

On Friday, a U.S. soldier was killed in an ambush, and another was shot in the neck while shopping in a market. An 11-year-old Iraqi boy was gunned down by American troops who mistook him for a gunman. Some Iraqi civilians have died in anti-American attacks, such as two national electricity workers killed Thursday when ambushers threw grenades at a U.S.-led convoy.

In Friday's civilian death, however, U.S. soldiers in western Baghdad thought they were shooting at a possible attacker carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. Instead, they killed a boy on the roof of his home. "The soldiers determined the situation was hostile and engaged the individual," said U.S. military spokesman Maj. Sean Gibson. "It was not until after the search was under way that they discovered that it was an 11-year-old boy."

The U.S. civil affairs officer shot in the neck was critically wounded and underwent surgery Friday. A man with a pistol shot the soldier at close range and fled through the market crowds, said Ammar Saad, a 44-year-old vendor.

Troops also came under fire Friday in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, and nearby Habaniya, though there were no injuries.

American military officials say the daily grind of ambushes is beginning to affect their efforts at reconstruction.

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Associated Press reports that on Saturday June 28, 2003, another guerrilla attack took place at Al Mashtel southeast of Baghdad. A US military Humvee and crew come under fire while on patrol Friday evening. Unknown men attacked the patrol with a rocket propelled grenade killing one US soldiers and wounding four others.

George... where are the weapons of mass destruction? You LIED, G.I.'s & Iraqis DIE!