Several killed in Iraq ambush

Al Jazeera | Friday 09 April 2004, 14:48 Makka Time, 11:48 GMT

[konijn]

Several killed in Iraq ambush

Friday 09 April 2004, 14:48 Makka Time, 11:48 GMT

Scene in Abu Ghuraib after the ambush

Iraqi fighters have ambushed a US patrol in Abu Ghuraib area, west of Baghdad killing at least nine people, reported our correspondent.

Fighters also seized control of the highway linking the predominantly Sunni Muslim town with the besieged city of Falluja, west of Baghdad.

Hundreds of fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles were running along the highway, an AFP correspondent said.

An AFP photographer reported earlier that fierce clashes pitted US occupation troops against fighters in Abu Gharib.

Buildings targeted

In Baquba, a mixed Shia and Sunni town, fighting erupted on Friday with fighters clashing with US troops and targeting buildings, witnesses said.

They said smoke was rising from the governorate building housing US forces and from buildings surrounding the police station.

The sound of explosions was also heard near the main US base in the town, 65 km north of Baghdad.

The fighting erupted after supporters of radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and sympathisers of Sunni fighters took to the streets to demonstrate after Friday's prayers.

West of Heet city on Friday, an explosion hit a US patrol, causing casualties and damaging a number of military vehicles, our correspondent reported.

An explosion also rocked Kirkuk airport, where US forces are based, said our correspondent.

And in Diyala province, clashes have erupted around the governor's office, causing casualties and damaging a US tank.

New minister

Meanwhile, Samir Sumaidy, a Sunni Muslim political independent on the US-installed Iraqi Governing Council, has been appointed interior minister. Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, a Shia independent, has taken over as national security adviser.

Sumaidy came in place of Nuri Badran who resigned as interior minister on the directive of occupation administrator Paul Bremer on Thursday. Badran quoted Bremer as saying that both the interior and defence ministry should not be headed by the Shia.

Aljazeera + Agencies

[BrooklynGOP]

Time for shock and awe.

[dirtboy]

Al Jazeera? Sure, I believe all of this.

[Piquaboy]

Any Iraqi running around with a RPG or rifle who is not a policeman or soldier should be shot. It would not take long for them to get the word.

[demlosers]

Allegedly, a Reuters Photographer said he counted nine bodies - so where are the photos?

[prion]

Hundreds of fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles were running along the highway, an AFP correspondent said.

Dear me. I think even my marksmanship would be equal to this task.

[browsin]

An explosion also rocked Kirkuk airport

Is that the main(or only) airport?If so,i have a second cousin there(with the Australian forces).Hope he's ok.

[MEG33]

I am listening to Fox.....2 killed 11 wounded.(first thought9)....anyone brandishing a weapon will be shot.Convoy attacked.

[Guillermo]

Yes, but that may offend certain Mohammedans.

[MEG33]

He must have been counting wounded also..according to Fox,2 killed

[swampfox98]

I'd like to see President Bush come home from his vacation and do what he does best, if only his handlers would let him, and that is to lead this country and to be himself. Toss Karl Rove out the window and return to being the President we elected. He is in desperate need of finding new advisors who know what America is thinking and worrying about. He is giving the impression that he doesn't care, and I know that is not true. but it looks that way.

He is dooming his own presidential campaign by staying in Crawford while city after city in Iraq is falling to the extremists. We need to see him back in the White House, we need to hear him, and we need to be able to believe him. We need to see the Bush of 9-11 again.

[vharlow]

How long would we tolerate it if the Methodists down the street had RPG's and automatic weapons and bombs in the church, and the Lutherans on the other side of town had the same??? What is wrong with the people of Iraq and all these middle eastern countries that they think it's OK for mosques to have armies, and arm them with weapons they store in mosques? I'd like to think Islam is a religion of peace, but the facts say otherwise, and unfortunately, we cannot close our eyes to these facts forever.

[af_vet_rr]

Allegedly, a Reuters Photographer said he counted nine bodies - so where are the photos?

That made me stop and think. The guerillas are not exactly going to stop the media from taking pictures of dead Americans (if anything they encourage it, using it against us).

[MEG33]

You believe it would be wise to have President Bush give Sadr great importance?I believe Bush needs to give an address soon on our reason for going to Iraq in the first place as many people seem to have forgotten.

Iraq is no 911.,,Sadr is no Osama.Fallujah isn't the World Trade Center.

[Piquaboy]

You cannot win a war by being PC. We should treat them like what they really are, terrorist. Muslim clerics here in the states said it wrong to mutilate murdered people, but did not condem the murder of them. What does that tell anyone?

[swampfox98]

You believe it would be wise to have President Bush give Sadr great importance?

Yes, because as long as our boys are dying at the hand of these extremists, it is very important. It is important to the grieving families and it is important to me, as a citizen who grieves with them.

To h... with what it looks like to the enemy. We are the people who elected Bush, and we need to see him serious and concerned, and stop the joking and looking under the table for weapons of mass destruction, as he did at the press party. Has he gone mad? Are his advisors out to lunch?

[MEG33]

Surely you don't believe the President should be like Jimmy Carter.I am shocked that you think the President does not take the deaths seriously.The armed services do not need a CIC in perpetual mourning.They get his profound respect,appreciation and affection.

AMERICA..HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE

[RicocheT]

I agree and if you have any contacts in the Republican campaign or the Administration, please call them and let them know the same thought.

Bush as a leader connects, Bush as a politician sinks. I want him to win another term as we need him - Kerry would be a disaster.

[MEG33]

Your reflections please on 16,17, 18.What would you like the President to be doing?

[teletech]

OK, we give up! We know when were licked! BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (snort) BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!