Iraq

As more die in fighting, Iraqi urges calling out old army

BAGHDAD - Deadly ambush teams struck U.S. Army targets from west to north in the arc of resistance around Baghdad, and the interim Iraqi leader called Sunday for an immediate mobilization of the old Iraqi army to help the harried Americans.

The United States would "speed the process of relieving the burden on its troops" by recalling the disbanded Iraqi military, said Iyad Allawi, current president of the Iraqi Governing Council. The idea got a cool reception, however, from the U.S.-led occupation authorities.

Attackers killed two U.S. soldiers in a clash outside the northern city of Kirkuk late Saturday, and others blasted a broken-down convoy in the western flashpoint city of Fallujah, setting off spectacular explosions from an ammunition truck.

One Iraqi civilian was killed by the blast and at least four were wounded in Fallujah, either from the blasts or from gunfire from American troops as they sped away, hospital officials said.

In the attack near Kirkuk, 160 miles north of Baghdad, an American mounted patrol was ambushed by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire at 10:45 p.m. Saturday, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, 4th Infantry Division spokeswoman. The patrol returned fire, but no additional enemy contact followed, she said.

In addition to the two killed, a third American was wounded, Aberle reported.

Early Sunday, about 30 miles west of that attack, U.S. troops were hit with grenades and small arms fire near Hawija, and killed three Iraqis when they returned fire, the 4th Infantry Division reported. Still farther west, near Beiji, American forces detained five attackers after a brief firefight, the division said.

On the eastern edge of Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, a U.S. Army ammunition truck, part of a convoy, broke down on the main road late Sunday morning and came under attack, the U.S. command said in Baghdad. The truck and possibly two other vehicles apparently were hit by rocket-propelled grenades.

"Shells were flying everywhere, like fireworks," shopkeeper Khalil al-Qubaisi, 45, said of the exploding ammunition truck.

U.S. troops trying to approach the site pulled back after coming under grenade attack, and opened fire in every direction as they left, witnesses said.

"I was fixing my car on the other side of the street, and Americans fired in a circular motion as they tried to leave," said Thaer Ibrahim, 30, who was wounded in the shoulder by the American fire.

Four other civilians were wounded, and one later died of shrapnel wounds, said Dr. Rafae al-Issawi, director of Fallujah General Hospital. In Baghdad, the U.S. command said there were no American casualties.

In nearby Khaldiyah, unidentified assailants fired two rocket-propelled grenades at two Humvees, damaging one, said a witness, shopkeeper Adel Kamel. It was unclear whether there were any casualties.

The deaths in Kirkuk brought to 103 the number of Americans killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. A total 338 Americans have died since the invasion of Iraq in March, 217 of them in combat.

The command reported 15 attacks on forces of the U.S.-led coalition in the 24 hours ended at midday Sunday, down from a recent average of 22 a day.

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