BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen killed one U.S. soldier and wounded seven others in Iraq (news - web sites) Tuesday in the latest of a string of guerrilla attacks against American forces who took over the country last month.
The attack with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms in the city of Falluja brought to three the number of U.S. fatalities from hostilities in the past 24 hours nearly a month after President Bush (news - web sites) declared major combat over.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement the gunmen apparently fired from a mosque in the city, 32 miles west of Baghdad. U.S. troops fired back, killing two of the attackers and capturing six others.
A U.S. Army Medevac helicopter was damaged during the exchange when a Bradley Fighting Vehicle accidentally struck it while maneuvering into a firing position, Central Command said. The Arabic news network al-Jazeera, however, said the attackers had shot down the helicopter.
It was the second attack reported from Falluja in recent days on U.S. troops. Last Wednesday, U.S. soldiers killed two Iraqis in retaliatory fire.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded in two separate Iraqi ambushes Monday, one in Baghdad and the other north of the capital.
"These incidents tell us that there are still many challenges throughout Iraq that we have to deal with," Captain David Connolly told Reuters Television in Baghdad. "We will continue to fight pockets of resistance as well as criminal gangs."
The U.S. fatalities were among the rare few attributed to "hostile actions" since Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1.
NO NEW IRAN
U.S. forces are struggling to restore order six weeks after ousting Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and his Baathist government and have said all Iraqis must hand in their arms by next month or be punished.
But some Iraqis, citing lawlessness, are reluctant to turn over weapons. A top Iranian-backed Shi'ite leader said Monday the decision was wrong and he left unclear whether his militia would comply.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in comments published Tuesday the United States would not allow Iraq's neighbors to create an Iran-style Islamic republic.
"Assistance from Iraq's neighbors will be welcomed. Conversely, interference in Iraq by its neighbors or their proxies -- including those whose objective is to remake Iraq in Iran's image -- will not be accepted or permitted," he said in an article for the Wall Street Journal Europe.
As well as trying to disarm the lawless country, the United States and its allies have been trying to restore basic services to the civilian population and establish a local authority.
A U.S. official in Baghdad said Washington would urge Iraq's creditors to consider debt relief for the wrecked country at a weekend summit but not get into detail on its immediate rebuilding needs.
The official, who asked not to be named, said chaos and looting after Saddam was toppled on April 9 made it very difficult to "build a case for what Iraq needs to run basic government functions for the next few months."
The Group of Seven industrialized nations and Russia are set to meet on June 1 in Evian, France, to heal rifts created by Bush's decision to go to war on Iraq in the face of widespread international opposition.
In one bright note amid the gloom, an Iraqi oil official said the country was moving quickly to resume oil sales -- restoring communications and rewriting export contracts -- just days after the United Nations (news - web sites) agreed to lift sanctions.
The chief of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization, Mohammed al-Jibouri, told Reuters that Baghdad aimed to export the first postwar barrels of crude oil, now sitting in storage tanks, by mid-June.
The attack with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms in the city of Falluja brought to three the number of U.S. fatalities from hostilities in the past 24 hours nearly a month after President Bush (news - web sites) declared major combat over.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement the gunmen apparently fired from a mosque in the city, 32 miles west of Baghdad. U.S. troops fired back, killing two of the attackers and capturing six others.
A U.S. Army Medevac helicopter was damaged during the exchange when a Bradley Fighting Vehicle accidentally struck it while maneuvering into a firing position, Central Command said. The Arabic news network al-Jazeera, however, said the attackers had shot down the helicopter.
It was the second attack reported from Falluja in recent days on U.S. troops. Last Wednesday, U.S. soldiers killed two Iraqis in retaliatory fire.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded in two separate Iraqi ambushes Monday, one in Baghdad and the other north of the capital.
"These incidents tell us that there are still many challenges throughout Iraq that we have to deal with," Captain David Connolly told Reuters Television in Baghdad. "We will continue to fight pockets of resistance as well as criminal gangs."
The U.S. fatalities were among the rare few attributed to "hostile actions" since Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1.
NO NEW IRAN
U.S. forces are struggling to restore order six weeks after ousting Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and his Baathist government and have said all Iraqis must hand in their arms by next month or be punished.
But some Iraqis, citing lawlessness, are reluctant to turn over weapons. A top Iranian-backed Shi'ite leader said Monday the decision was wrong and he left unclear whether his militia would comply.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in comments published Tuesday the United States would not allow Iraq's neighbors to create an Iran-style Islamic republic.
"Assistance from Iraq's neighbors will be welcomed. Conversely, interference in Iraq by its neighbors or their proxies -- including those whose objective is to remake Iraq in Iran's image -- will not be accepted or permitted," he said in an article for the Wall Street Journal Europe.
As well as trying to disarm the lawless country, the United States and its allies have been trying to restore basic services to the civilian population and establish a local authority.
A U.S. official in Baghdad said Washington would urge Iraq's creditors to consider debt relief for the wrecked country at a weekend summit but not get into detail on its immediate rebuilding needs.
The official, who asked not to be named, said chaos and looting after Saddam was toppled on April 9 made it very difficult to "build a case for what Iraq needs to run basic government functions for the next few months."
The Group of Seven industrialized nations and Russia are set to meet on June 1 in Evian, France, to heal rifts created by Bush's decision to go to war on Iraq in the face of widespread international opposition.
In one bright note amid the gloom, an Iraqi oil official said the country was moving quickly to resume oil sales -- restoring communications and rewriting export contracts -- just days after the United Nations (news - web sites) agreed to lift sanctions.
The chief of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization, Mohammed al-Jibouri, told Reuters that Baghdad aimed to export the first postwar barrels of crude oil, now sitting in storage tanks, by mid-June.
