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Friday, 16 February 2007
SEVEN US TROOPS KILLED – despite Iraq crackdown
Seven more US soldiers were killed in Iraq on Wednesday, the US military revealed yesterday, as US and UK troops, backed by Iraqi puppet forces, attempted to seal off Baghdad and Basra.
The puppet Maliki government claimed Iraq had closed its borders with Iran and Syria as Operation Law and Order moved into its second day.
However, a US military spokesman said yesterday: ‘Many border points were closed last night but I can’t confirm that all were shut.’
US fighter jets made more low-level runs across Baghdad. Three pairs of US Apache attack helicopters circled above the districts of Rusafa and Sadr City in eastern Baghdad around midday (0900 GMT) and numerous detonations were heard in the southeast of the capital.
US army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bleichwehl told a press briefing: ‘Intelligence-focused searches accompanied by clearing operations were conducted by coalition and Iraqi security forces in multiple locations across Baghdad.’
Meanwhile, a puppet defence ministry spokesman admitted two car bombs struck successively in the Dura district, however, killing three people and wounding fifteen.
In southern Iraq, local puppet forces and British troops closed two border crossings, expanded coastal patrols and increased checkpoints in Basra.
Four US troops were killed or fatally wounded by ‘explosions near their vehicles’ in the Diyala province, north of Baghdad, on Wednesday.
A US marine was killed in combat operations in the western Anbar province, also on Wednesday, the US military said yesterday.
In a separate incident a US soldier died on Wednesday after being shot on Tuesday while his unit was providing security at the site of a homemade bomb found north of Baghdad.
Also on Tuesday, a US soldier died near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown north of the capital, ‘in a non-combated related incident, which is currently under investigation,’ a separate US military statement said.
The deaths brought the number of US deaths in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 3,123.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi police station in the western city of Ramadi, killing 11 people including four police on Wednesday, the US military said yesterday.
Iraqi medical and security officials said the police station was severely damaged in the blast and the local police chief was among those killed.
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