Mass detention in Tikrit; new attack in Baghdad, two American soldiers killed

In the most recent attack by the Iraqi resistance, one American armored vehicle was burnt in the downtown of Baghdad after it was hit by a missile shelling. The attack resulted in human losses among the American soldiers in the said vehicle.

An American military spokesman said that the attack resulted in killing one Iraqi and wounding three American soldiers. Witnesses said that the armored vehicle type was running near al-Nakhil hotel in al-Karradah quarters when the resistance men fired on it. The witnesses said that four soldiers were in the car when it was hit.

Following the attack, an American force at the site clashed with the attackers and exchanged intensive fire by small weapons and killed at least one passerby.

The attack comes after the announcement made by the American occupation army in killing two of its soldiers by the Iraqi resistance in Baghdad.

A statement by the central leadership of the US forces circulated yesterday said that two soldiers from the first armored contingent were killed and a third was wounded in an attack by a light weapon in al-Rasheed quarters in Baghdad.

The first soldier was killed immediately while the second died because of his wounds after he was admitted to hospital. Their translator was also injured.

In another statement, the occupation forces announced that one American soldier of the airborne 101 contingent died because of an illness while on duty in northern Iraq. The statement added that another soldier belongs to the same contingent was killed two days earlier as he fell down from the roof of a building in al-Musil to the north of Iraq.

The declaration of these attacks came after the American occupation forces announced arresting three Iraqis during raids they had launched on Wednesday evening in Tikrit city, 170 Km to the north of Baghdad, in their effort to arrest the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The commander of the attack Lt. Steve Racel said that one of the arrested men is suspected of financing and arming the Iraqi resistance outside Tikrit in order to carry out attacks against the American occupation forces.

However, these raids and operations come just one day after the arrival of the Spanish forces to Iraq in order to take part in the peace keeping force within a group composed of 1100 Spanish troops.

These forces will be beside other forces from other three countries form southern America, namely Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, as part of the peace keeping forces in the downtown of Iraq under the Polish leadership.