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Bombing kills 7 marines in fallujah Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Posted on Tue, Sep. 07, 2004
Bombing kills 7 Marines, 3 Iraqis near Al-Fallujah
By Nancy A. Youssef
Knight Ridder
BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the single deadliest attack on U.S. troops in four months, a suicide bomber killed seven Marines and three Iraqi national guardsmen Monday near Al-Fallujah.
The Marines were members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, from Camp Pendleton.
The soldiers and the Marines were traveling in a convoy around 10:30 a.m. when a suicide bomber drove by and detonated a car loaded with explosives, destroying their Humvees.
Although the attack was the biggest since April 29 when a car bomb killed eight Americans near Al-Mahmudiyah, a city south of Baghdad, it was hardly uncommon. Mortar fire and roadside bombs torment U.S. soldiers in areas around Al-Fallujah in Anbar province. Five soldiers were killed in an attack in the province Aug. 21.
Monday's attack served as a reminder of the seemingly intractable problem that American authorities here are facing as a national election scheduled for January nears.
Earlier Monday, the U.S. military announced it would try to find ways to restore security in insurgent-controlled Al-Fallujah. However, Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz said the solution would not necessarily be a military one.
The U.S. military in May declared Al-Fallujah a ``no-go zone'' after engaging in heavy fighting with insurgents. A no-go zone generally refers to a place where foreigners cannot travel safely and where the military cannot enter because insurgents are in control.
Governor attacked
In Baghdad early today, a roadside bomb targeted the Baghdad governor's convoy, killing two people but leaving Gov. Ali al-Haidri uninjured, the Interior Ministry said.
Also early today, U.S. forces battled insurgents loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr throughout the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, the U.S. military said. Iraq's Health Ministry said 15 people were killed and 67 injured in the fighting. U.S. Army Capt. Brian O'Malley said several American soldiers were injured.
On Monday, the U.S. military released figures that underscore the increasing dangers American soldiers face in Iraq.
Multinational soldiers were attacked about 2,000 times in August, or 67 times a day, a record since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government, said Lt. Col. Steve Boyle, a military spokesman. In July, the U.S.-led coalition said it was attacked about 1,000 times or 37 times a day.
Boyle attributed the rise to the fighting in An-Najaf.
To address the attacks, the military has ruled some cities are no-go zones. Most recently, the military called the northern city Samarra a no-go zone.
The U.S. military has greater skill and technological superiority over the insurgents but is trying to limit fighting that could lead to high numbers of casualties.
According to the Defense Department's Web site, 981 U.S. troops had been killed in Iraq as of Sunday. Monday's deaths bring the total to 988.
The Iraqis often do not want the soldiers patrolling the cities, saying the U.S. military presence is what is inciting the fighting. They insist the Iraqi police and military can contain the violence. The interim government has asked the military to leave some cities.
But the interim government is also responsible for holding elections, and its officials say they cannot do it in many of the no-go-zone cities.
Metz told reporters near Baghdad International Airport that the military had four months to try to establish security in Al-Fallujah and other no-go zones so that residents there could take part in the national elections in January. ``And then I've got the rest of January to help the Iraqis to put the mechanisms in place,'' Metz said.
Metz said the solution would not necessarily be a military one. The military could meet with leaders and urge them to press insurgents to stop the violence, warning them that they could face a devastating U.S. attack otherwise.
Saddam aide not held
Meanwhile, Iraqi government officials announced that a man detained by authorities a day earlier was not Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a onetime aide to Saddam who is the highest-ranking official from the toppled government to remain free.
The man, not publicly named, was a relative of Ibrahim who also was wanted by authorities on unspecified charges, said Dr. Sabah Kadhim, a Ministry of Interior spokesman.
In other developments, the interim government said Saddam will face a trial within weeks. Adnan Ali Hadi, a spokesman for interim Deputy President Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said the government feels prepared to hold the trial and that Saddam's attorneys have had enough time to prepare his defense.
The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
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