[michigander]

Iraq latest: At-a-glance

1540: At least one US Marine is killed in an apparent suicide bombing attack near a military checkpoint in Baghdad, correspondents report.

[kcvl]

Suicide Bombing Targets US Marine Checkpoint in Baghdad
VOA News
10 Apr 2003, 16:27 UTC


Reporters in Baghdad say there has been a suicide bombing at a U.S. Marine checkpoint near the Palestine Hotel. Details are sketchy but reports say there were casualties in the blast, which came shortly after nightfall Thursday. U.S. troops in Baghdad have been battling fighters loyal to Saddam Hussein, while Iraqi Kurdish fighters backed by U.S. special forces have seized Iraq's key northern oil city of Kirkuk.

Journalists in Kirkuk report hearing sporadic gunfire, but say Iraqi troops who were guarding the city appear to have fled. Residents of the northern Iraqi city began celebrating soon after the Kurdish fighters entered the city early Thursday. Some toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein in a town square, while others looted offices of Iraq's ruling Baath party and the government.

The presence of Kurdish fighters has troubled Turkey, which fears that Kurds in northern Iraq might try to set up their own state with Kirkuk as its capital. But a White House spokesman says the United States has reassured Ankara that U.S. forces will take control of the city.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul says Ankara will send military observers into northern Iraq. The U.S. military says American forces are consolidating their hold on the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, one day after the apparent collapse of the Saddam regime.

A U.S. Central Command spokesman, Major General Victor Renuart, says U.S. forces have cordoned off the entire city, preventing pro-Saddam fighters from leaving or entering. He told reporters today that U.S. forces do not know the whereabouts of Saddam, his sons or other top Iraqi officials. U.S. tanks reached the center of Baghdad on Wednesday, triggering jubilant celebrations in the Iraqi capital. But the spokesman said that U.S. troops are still encountering small bands of Republican Guard or Iraqi militia forces, and warned Baghdad residents to stay in their homes while the fighting continues.

Central Command says one U.S. Marine was killed and 20 others wounded in a fierce firefight Thursday near a mosque in northwestern Baghdad. A spokesman said U.S. forces swept into the area following reports some regime leaders were trying organize a meeting there.

Additional fighting was reported along the northern banks of the Tigris River and in a northeastern Baghdad district. U.S. commanders also say American forces have attacked Iraqi forces in the western town of Al-Qaim. Iraq fired ballistic missiles on Israel from the area during the 1991 Gulf War.