Steve Quayle News Alerts

October 31, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- With the U.S. Consulate in Baghdad urging Americans to take precautions amid rumors of a "day of resistance" this weekend, violent skirmishes left two dead and injured others Friday in Iraq.

A U.S. soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division was killed and four others wounded when a homemade bomb exploded near Khaldiya, a town west of Baghdad, a spokesman with the U.S.-led coalition said. No other details were available.

An Iraqi policeman also was killed in a riot near Baghdad International Airport, where U.S. troops and armed Iraqis exchanged fire.

A witness said residents were protesting the imprisonment of Iraqis in nearby Abu Ghraib prison when a U.S. military vehicle pulled up on a curb near the demonstration. Stones were thrown at the U.S. troops and a riot broke out, the witness said.

Elsewhere, a† bomb exploded outside the mayor's office in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. No word of casualties in the explosion was available, but several police, one attacker and some nearby civilians were wounded in the firefight that followed, an eyewitness said.

Attacks against U.S. forces and Iraqi police have escalated recently, with the most dramatic and bloodiest day coming Monday. More than 30 people were killed then in four suicide bombings in Baghdad, including an assault on the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters.

Friday's death raises the U.S. combat death toll to 118 since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities May 1.

Weekend warning issued

Acknowledging what news organizations have heard in recent days, the U.S. Consulate issued a statement saying that "U.S. citizens are encouraged to continue to maintain a high level of vigilance and continue to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness."

A number of dates have been mentioned for possible attacks, but the common one is for Saturday.

Separately, officials with the Army's 1st Armored Division -- in charge of U.S. troops in Baghdad -- said they have stepped up their security presence in the city.

Australia said it received credible reports of terrorist threats in central Baghdad around the al Hamra Hotel and advised all Australians to leave Iraq and defer all travel to the country.

One U.S.-led coalition official said threats against Iraqis are coming mostly to schools, where men with their heads covered in black cloth, have threatened students, teachers and families.

The threats have been verbal and written on paper, saying that no one will be safe and police stations, schools, markets, mosques, hotels and nongovernmental organizations will be targeted regardless of women and children in the areas, the official said.

The threats are coming from all over the country but are focused on Saddam Hussein's strongholds where most of the violence has occurred, including Baghdad, Fallujah and the Sunni "Triangle" area.

Renewed violence comes amid an article Friday in The New York Times suggesting that Saddam may be playing a significant role in recent attacks against U.S. forces. U.S. officials are denying the report, saying it's unlikely the former Iraqi leader has a direct role in the attacks.

Other developments

• U.S. forces are ferreting for Saddam through the Tikrit area, his ancestral homeland. The military is cordoning off Al Owja, a town five miles south of downtown Tikrit and Saddam's birthplace. Lt. Col. Steve Russell, a 4th Infantry Division battalion commander, said there is one entry/exit point to the town. Repairs to the bridge in Tikrit is a primary reason for the cordon, officials said, but Col. James Hickey admitted that "security issues" also prompted this move.

• With Friday's noon deadline passing, staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee said they did not expect federal agencies to deliver all their documents and schedule interviews and testimony concerning prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons program by that time. The Senate panel had sent bluntly worded letters this week to the White House, State Department, Pentagon and CIA, demanding documents relevant to its investigation into prewar intelligence. One staff member said, "Some things are coming in." Officials at the agencies said they were working to meet the demands, though they indicated they would not be finished by the deadline.

• U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday he will appoint a team of experts to look into security flaws that led to the August attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. Twenty-two people were killed in the bombing.

• The U.S. State Department said it would offer up to $5 million for information leading to the capture of Abu Musab al Zarqawi -- a Jordanian with ties to al Qaeda and the suspected mastermind of the deadly August bombing of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad. The State Department originally had listed the reward amount as $25 million but later said that figure was a mistake.

• On Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives approved the $87 billion Iraq and Afghanistan spending bill, clearing the way for final Senate approval and a presidential signature in the coming days. †The 298-121 vote came after the Senate stripped from the bill a controversial provision requiring that half the $18.4 billion for Iraq reconstruction projects be loans, not grants. The White House fought hard to keep the money as a grant, arguing Iraq could not afford to take on new debt while it is in such a fragile state.

• A gruesome videotape obtained by CNN from independent sources allegedly shows the brutal punishment administered by the Fedayeen Saddam, young soldiers recruited from regions loyal to Saddam, to enforce discipline under the regime of the former Iraqi leader. U.S. troops found the video in April, according to Pentagon sources.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/10/31/sprj.irq.main/index.html