Scores of Iraqis killed; call for return of Kurds to Karkouk
More losses were inflicted in the lines of the American forces in Iraq while scores of Iraqis were killed and wounded in various incidents including the fall of a mortar on Baqouba and an armed attack at a mosque in Baghdad.
Meantime, the chairman of the municipality of Karkouk called on the Interim Governing Council to take an urgent measure to ensure the return back of "hundreds of thousands" of Kurds who were expelled from the northern areas during the rule of the former regime.
The chairman of the municipality (a Kurd) Abdul Rahman Mustafa said that the council which was appointed by the USA should take a quick decision enabling "hundreds of thousands of Kurds who were taken out of their homes to return back harmoniously in a way not to undermine the unity of the city," which is inhabited by various ethnic groups.
The police detained on Thursday 15 Kurds who built houses on public lands after their return back to Karkouk from where they were expelled under the rule of the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The Kurds accuse the former regime of pursuing a policy aimed at settling the Arabs from central and southern Iraq in Karkouk and the surrounding areas in order to change the ethnic composition of the city.
Meanwhile, an American military spokesman said that one American soldier was killed and two others wounded on Thursday evening after an American military convoy was hit by a missile shelling near Karkouk city to the north of Iraq. The spokesman added that another soldier was killed in the fourth contingent and another wounded in a fire in a deserted house between Tikrit and Baghdad.
The Iraqi police said that ten Iraqis were at least wounded by a mortar shell on Thursday evening at an American military position in al-Resalah quarters in Baghdad. The targeted US military base was not hit.
Later in the day, it was announced that nine Iraqi civilians were killed and other 18 wounded on Thursday evening when a mortar shell fell in al-Burtuqala (orange) square in one of the popular markets in Baqouba. A spokeswoman for the occupation forces said the shell fell in the center of Baouba trade centers and Cafes. The American army noted no casualty among the Americans.
Moreover, an 18- year old young Iraqi was killed yesterday and one of his friends wounded by the American bullets in al-Mansoureyah village, 110 Km to the northern East of Baghdad. The father of the killed youth said that his son Dureid Hassan Elwan was heading to the mosque together with other four friends to perform prayers when they were hit by American fire.