Posted on 04/02/2005 9:55:55 PM PST by Pharmboy
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents attacked the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, injuring 44 U.S. forces and 12 prisoners, the U.S. military said Sunday, while six people were killed elsewhere in Iraq following a period of declining attacks that had raised hopes the insurgency might be weakening. At least 40 militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and set off two car bombs at the infamous prison as darkness fell Saturday night, 1st Lt. Adam Rondeau said. Soldiers and Marines stationed at the detention facility responded, and the resulting clash and gunfight lasted about 40 minutes. No one escaped.
"This was obviously a very well-organized attack and a very big attack," Rondeau said.
On Sunday, U.S. military officials raised the casualty toll from 20 to 44 U.S. service members, and said some of the injuries were serious.
Officials have said that overall attacks have been declining in Iraq, but they also have noted that insurgents seem to be focusing their efforts on bigger, better organized operations.
It wasn't immediately known if any of the insurgents carrying out the attack were arrested or suffered casualties. Plumes of smoke were seen rising from the area.
Abu Ghraib was at the center of a prisoner abuse scandal that broke out in 2004 when pictures showing soldiers piling naked inmates in a pyramid and humiliating them sexually became public. The resulting scandal tarnished the military's image worldwide and sparked investigations of detainee abuses.
The United States is holding about 10,500 prisoners in Iraq.
Also Saturday, Iraqi lawmakers struggling to form a government after the historic Jan. 30 elections appeared to have reached a compromise on the parliamentary speaker's post, with the major coalitions backing Industry Minister Hajim al-Hassani as the favored candidate. Debate Tuesday on the issue caused the second session of the National Assembly to disintegrate into shouts and accusations.
Officials had said they might have to vote on several candidates, with Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance member Fawaz al-Jarba and Meshaan al-Jubouri also in the running.
But with only hours left before Sunday's session, al-Jubouri told The Associated Press that he would accept a compromise proposal in which he and al-Jarba would withdraw their names. Al-Jarba couldn't be reached for comment.
All candidates for speaker were Sunni Arabs, an effort to reach out to the minority group once dominant under Saddam Hussein and believed to be the backbone of the country's insurgency.
Negotiators also said they hoped to name the country's new interim president - expected to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani - and his two vice presidents during Sunday's session.
Alliance members have agreed to nominate former nuclear scientist Hussain al-Shahristani as one of two deputy speakers and interim Finance Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi as one of the vice presidents. Kurdish judge Dara Nor al-Din is expected to be nominated for the second deputy to the parliament speaker post.
Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, politicians Adnan Pachachi and Sharif Ali Bin Al-Hussein - all Sunni Arabs - were vying for the second vice president's post, officials say.
Once in his post, Talabani and the vice presidents will name the new interim prime minister, likely Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari. After that, the legislative body has until mid-August to write a new constitution that will pave the way for new elections and a permanent government.
Authorities are hoping the formation of a new government that includes representatives from all of Iraq' diverse ethnic and religious groups will help undermine the insurgency - and lead to an eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops.
But U.S. and Iraqi officials acknowledge they have a long way to go. Early Saturday, gunmen opened fire from a car in Baghdad, killing local official Hassib Zamil outside of the Education Ministry offices in the Sadr City neighborhood.
In the central city of Khan Bani Saad, a car bomb killed five people, including four police officers on patrol. Two police officers and three civilians also were wounded, provincial police Col. Mudafar al-Jubori said.
A car bomb also injured six Iraqis and set a house on fire in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said. The attack happened Saturday as coalition soldiers, acting on a citizens' tip, were arriving to investigate, the U.S. military said.
It also reported that a U.S. Marine was killed by enemy fire while conducting security operations in Ramadi on Friday.
In a separate statement, the U.S. military praised an edict issued by Sunni clerics that called for Iraqis to join police and army forces, saying it was a sign that people were fed up with the insurgency. But the statement added that enlistees "must be prepared to serve all the people."
The edict, read Friday by a cleric in the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, instructed enlistees to refrain from helping foreign troops against their own countrymen. As the Iraq police and army grow, the edict said it wanted Sunnis to prevent security forces from falling into "the hands of those who have caused chaos, destruction and violated the sanctities."
The announcement, endorsed by a group of 64 Sunni clerics and scholars, could help the new government boost the image of new police and soldiers struggling to fight the insurgency. For months, Sunni clerics had warned their faithful against cooperating with officials.
In another development Saturday, Interim Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh issued a statement condemning the attack a day earlier against a ninth-century minaret in the central city of Samarra, calling it an "affront to the nation's history and humanity."
It would seem that the terrorists are going to a known address to find recruits.
Things may not be going all that well for them if their principle focus is freeing their thug friends to enlarge their numbers.
no prisoners , shoot them all and let allah sort them out....
There is unconfirmed reports that one terrorist died as the result of the combat and maybe some are injured. I wonder if there is a clinic for terrorists to treat them, like they had in Falluja. If the coalition force can find any of them, it should be a constrain for the terrorists.
"Abu Ghraib was at the center of a prisoner abuse scandal that broke out in 2004" If nobody knows this by now they do not care. Why add this line?
A 40 minute firefight and over 60 injured, nobody killed. Are they using paintball guns now? Maybe they should--they could make their point and then later hurl invectives at each other.
Good observation ... they are running out of people and are reduced to springing the captured ones... and failing.
We found a tunnel at one of the prison camps. (think "great escape" type of tunnel.)
"Abu Ghraib was at the center of a prisoner abuse scandal that broke out in 2004" If nobody knows this by now they do not care. Why add this line?
... it's a precoded short-cut key on the typewriter ... just like:
"... since Bush declared the end of major combat operations"
"no WMDs were found in Iraq"
"mounting casualties"
ROFLMAO!!!
Reminded me of all the Rambo-type movies where thousands of bullets wizz by yet the hero and the lead villian never get hit. Well at least until they meet face-to-face. Once the villian dies all fighting stops as if there is a golden rule that the leader is the last to go.
I'm waiting for the media outrage at the "insurgents" for injuring those 12 poor prisoners. Perhaps terrorists injuring prisoners is fine, as long as they don't place panties on their heads. That would be a step too far!
These are called MMSM: Macros of the Main Stream Media.
And the perennial favorite MSM head, "Explosions ROCK Baghdad!"
and don't forget the dastardly "pointing to the genitals"
just sick. makes me weep just thinking about it! Oh the humanity.=)
Predates even the modern MSM. During the Bosnia-Herzegovina war in the early pre-AOL days every press release from the first day to the end a couple years later contained the "200,000 killed" slug line.
And don't even get me started on the "allowing dogs to bark in the same room" -- I'm getting queasy just thinking about what those poor souls had to endure! And their only crime was sawing off the heads of infidels. Arrogant imperialist cowboys!
God bless those soldiers wounded in the line of duty. May they all pull through. Strange that the article doesn't state exactly what happened. Did the terrorists storm the building, or did they just lob mortars from a distance and get lucky? There's a big difference, after all.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The number of U.S. soldiers wounded in a battle with insurgents outside Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison rose to more than 40 on Sunday, from an earlier count of 20, the U.S. military said.
Most of the injuries were light, but several were serious, according to Lieutenant Colonel Guy Rudisill, spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq. All of the wounded were being treated at the prison's medical facility.
"There are 44 U.S. soldiers injured, but only a few of those are serious," Rudisill said, adding that there was no increase in the number of wounded detainees, 12 of whom were hurt in the well-organized attack, one of them severely.
At least one insurgent was confirmed killed in the battle late on Saturday, but the colonel said he expected the true toll was far higher after intense fighting that lasted around an hour and involved U.S. helicopters and heavy weapons.
I would never do that. Being a Catholic, some inhumanities are just to sever for me to discuss. Just seeing this in print again and acknowledging it requires me to say my "Hail Mary's" and cleanse my soul.
On Sunday, U.S. military officials raised the casualty toll from 20 to 44 U.S. service members, and said some of the injuries were serious.
OK, Im missing something here...were there 44 casualties or are they counting WOUNDED as casualties?????
Unreal, completely unreal. I guess this also goes into referring to any city in Iraq. They had to always put "The Holy City of " before each one so the readers knew what infidels we were.
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