Resistance attacks continue in Iraq

US occupation troops in Iraq have come under attack after a night of battles around ousted President Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.

US troops storm a mosque with Iraqi security forces

A US convoy came under rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on Thursday in the town of Fallujah, about 75km west of Baghdad, reported our correspondent. It was not clear whether the occupation soldiers took casualties.

Loud explosions were also heard at a US base east of Samarra, 100km northwest of the capital. Troops closed off all roads leading to the area, while helicopters hovered overhead. 

A number of American troops were injured late on Wednesday when an Iraqi detonated explosives attached to himself at al-Anbar University in the town of al-Ramadi, eyewitnesses told Aljazeera.

The area was closed off and the bomber’s parts removed from the site. A US spokesman said investigations were underway. 

Clashes unabated

Tikrit raids have failed to findousted Iraqi president
Tikrit raids have failed to findousted Iraqi president

Tikrit raids have failed to find
ousted Iraqi president

Overnight, occupation troops fought battles with resistance fighters who fired mortar bombs next to a US base before soldiers stormed homes in search of the assailants near Tikrit.

There were no American casualties, but US commanders said one Iraqi might have been killed in the fighting.

Troops are coming under almost daily resistance attacks, as Iraqis become increasingly frustrated with the occupation.

US troops ambushed and killed three resistance fighters as they set explosives on a highway northeast of Baghdad, said military commanders on Thursday.  

Meanwhile, Kurdish security forces have found 1.2 tonnes of explosives stashed in three rubbish ships, one of which had been placed on a key bridge in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Three suspected members of Ansar al-Islam group, which Washington lists as a “terrorist” organisation, arrested on Wednesday, confessed to packing the ships with explosives surrounded by metal fragments, sources said.

The first was apparently intended to destroy the third bridge of Kirkuk while the other two were meant for a bombing in the city’s public square and an assassination attempt against Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader, Jalal Talabani.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies