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Nation & World News 13 U.S. Marines killed as fighting spreads in Iraq U.S. forces faced combat in at least four Iraqi cities, raising concerns that the attacks are well-planned By Matthew Schofield and David Swanson Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) RAMADI, Iraq — Three days shy of the one-year anniversary of Baghdad's fall, intense combat spread to at least four more cities in Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 13 U.S. Marines. Some of the fiercest fighting, which was witnessed by a Knight Ridder journalist, took place in Ramadi, where eight Marines from Echo Com pany, 2nd Battalion, 4th Regiment, were killed when a multi-pronged as sault caught the Marines by surprise as they were conducting routine patrols on foot at about 9 a.m. The attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortar and assault rifles in what appeared to be a well-coordinat ed attack by at least four groups of fighters numbering between four and 15 members each. Two other Marine companies were also ambushed in Ramadi. There was no word on their casualties. By the end of the day, U.S. troops seemed to have taken control of most contested areas, but the fighting was far more extensive than at any time since Saddam Hussein fled Baghdad on April 9, 2003. Battles also were reported in Nasiriyah, Kut and Karbala, cities that had been peaceful. Fighting contin ued in Baghdad's Sadr City, Fallujah and Amarah, as well as other cities. The list of coalition members in volved in the combat grew: In addi tion to Americans, troops from Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Ukraine and Poland were attacked. No official death toll was released, but in addition to the U.S. Marines who died in Ramadi, at least five were killed in Fallujah, according to local officials. One Ukrainian soldier was reported killed during fighting in Kut, and two Polish soldiers died during battles in Karbala. Iraqi deaths during fighting Mon day and Tuesday appeared to number around 100, including 40 killed overnight in Sadr City, Baghdad's sprawling Shiite slum. Italian soldiers killed 15 Iraqis in fighting in Nasiriyah, and British troops killed 12 Iraqis inAmarah. Two South Korean workers were re portedly kidnapped in southern Iraq. In Washington, Bush administra tion officials cast the violence as the work of a small section of Iraq's Shiite majority, not a mass rebellion. That stance reflected U.S. hopes that the unrest doesn't catch on more widely among Shiites, which along with the year-old resistance from once-dominant Sunni Muslims, would imperil the U.S. rebuilding mission in Iraq. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli dismissed anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, referring to his militia as "his small number of fol lowers." Ereli said, "We don't see them as representative of a religious cause but rather as representative of politi cal gangsterism." An official bulletin from the U.S. led coalition expressed concern, how ever. "These groups have become more sophisticated and may be coordinat ing their anti-coalition efforts, posing an even more significant threat," the Coalition Provisional Authority's op erational threat update said Tuesday. The Arab satellite television net work Al-Jazeera reported that U.S. Marines in Fallujah were fighting Shi ite supporters of al-Sadr, and not the Saddam loyalists they typically en counter in the town. If true, the devel opment would be astounding: Shiites and Sunnis are centuries-old Muslim rivals. In Washington, Secretary of De fense Donald Rumsfeld reported that Fallujah was under American control and that several people wanted in connection with the deaths of four civilian security workers last week had been taken into custody. Meanwhile, al-Sadr, the 30-year-old cleric whose militia was behind much of the recent violence, switched sanc tuaries, slipping from an ancient mosque in his hometown of Kufa to the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf, about 10 miles away. U.S. officials said Monday that they were seeking to arrest al-Sadr in con nection with the murder last year of a pro-American Shiite ayatollah who was hacked to death in the shrine. On Tuesday, a coalition official re vealed that two other charges had These groups have be come more sophisticated and may be coordinating their anti-coalition efforts, posing an even more significant threat." Coalition Provisional Authority operational threat update been lodged against al-Sadr — one in connection with stealing from mosque collection boxes and the oth er regarding the murder of a pregnant woman believed to have been killed by al-Sadr bodyguards. Official information about specific battles was difficult to come by. Spokesmen for the U.S. Marines de clined to say where their units were fighting. An informal count found at least 23 Americans have died since the fighting started Sunday. The U.S. Army announced Tuesday that two soldiers were killed Monday and a third on Tuesday in three sepa rate attacks by rocket-propelled grenades in ambushes near Baghdad's most revered Shiite shrine. Witnesses in Sadr City said 40 Iraqis, most of them al-Sadr followers, died as they fought LJ.S. troops and Iraqi police for control of police stations. The witnesses said the fighting started at about 8 p.m. and lasted un til midnight. "The Americans had so much force, so much strength," said one witness. "Many wondered what Sadr's follow ers thought they could possibly do against such strength. Many died." Throughout Tuesday, U.S. troops pa trolled the poor suburb by helicopter and tank, and tension remained high. The fighting was also intense overnight in Fallujah, despite a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew imposed by Ameri can forces. Officials in Fallujah said five U.S. Marines were killed in the fighting. By noon Tuesday, locals said the town, about 35 miles west of Baghdad, was under American control. As the day passed, they said the Americans moved back toward the perimeter of the city. Tanks sat on the highway leading to the city from Baghdad, with bar rels pointing toward oncoming traf fic and the town. A Red Crescent am bulance weaved through the coils of razor wire at the barrier, transporting four dead Iraqis to Baghdad, where the electricity was working and they could be kept cool. Marines at the checkpoint were stern, refusing even to reveal their hometowns or chat about stateside news. "Nobody is going in," one said, fi nally. "If people want to leave, they can leave, but nobody goes in." Town residents said U.S. Marines were on every comer. "The town was in hiding, the town was gone, nobody was moving," said Dr. Hibaa Wazan, who spent the past several years treating patients at the lo cal hospital. She added that the day time quiet followed a very loud night. "The bombs started falling as soon as the curfew was set last night," she said. "All night, there was a constant gunfire, and several times an hour, there were very loud explosions." Wazan said they evacuated all the patients capable of being moved, leav ing only a few of the very ill to be cared for. The strain through the night, when one bomb landed out side the hospital doors, persuaded her to accompany a heart attack victim out of the city to a Baghdad hospital — and to not return. But the fiercest fighting for Ameri cans was at Ramadi. In the aftermath of the ambush, U.S. Marines stepped warily around Iraqi bodies, looking for any more of their comrades. American Cobra and Chinook helicopters thumped over head, and Bradley fighting vehicles rumbled on the roads. Marines acknowledged they were surprised as they moved through the town on foot. The attackers were well armed and well coordinated and seemed to come from nowhere. The Marines responded with mas sive fire, armor and air support over the next five hours. Fighting went house to house, with Marines at one point leaping from one rooftop to the next as they chased and caught some of the fighters. Marines later read the names of eight comrades who had died in combat. Iraqi casualties appeared to be much higher; four bodies were still lying in the dust while Americans went corpse by corpse looking first for their own. At one spot near the shot-out shell of a U.S. Hurnvee lay the body of one attacker, clad in a surplus U.S. flak jacket. Hie head was partially melted or blown away. An Iraqi man working as a transla tor paced toward one of the bodies, kicked it, then turned away. (c) 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Schofield reported from outside Fallujah, Swanson from Ramadi. Carol Rosenberg in Baghdad and Warren Strobel in Washington contributed to this report. University of Oregon Bookstore ANNUAL MEETING 3:00 p.m. FIR ROOM, EMU Tuesday, April 13, 2004 ENTER TO WIN FREE COURSEBOOKS! One raffle winner will be reimbursed for the cost of their required Spring term coursebooks. Established in 1920, the UO Bookstore is an independent, not-for-profit corporation, owned collectively by UO students, faculty and classified staff and is governed by an elected, eleven-member Board of Directors. BOARD MEMBER BENEFITS: ■ Great resume builder. * $50 monthly stipend. • Represent your peers. ■ Real world experience. For information on open positions, contact neggert@uoregon.edu. Current Board of Directors UO students and faculty should come to nominate themselves or others for a position on the UO Bookstore Board of Directors. Our Not-For-Profit Mission: ■ Offer materials at the best possible prices. ■ Expand strong relationships with the UO. ■ Exceed customers' expectations. ■ Provide services and products to support UO students, faculty, and staff. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON BOOKSTORE Officials say rebellion may be turning point U.S. officials are calling the rebellion in Iraq on Tuesday the work of a minority and downplaying the violence By Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) WASHINGTON - Bush adminis tration officials sought Tuesday to cast the rebellion in Iraq as the work of a minority, saying plans to trans fer sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30 remain on target despite spreading violence. Privately, however, senior officials said the spreading battle between the United States and followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al Sadr could be a turning point in the yearlong U.S. effort to pacify and re build Iraq. The U.S. approach is to launch targeted raids against al-Sadr's fol lowers, but not to mount a major military strike on the cleric himself, the senior officials said. The officials conceded the crack down is a gamble. If the raids degen erate into a battle between coalition forces and Shiites — which, they concede, is what al-Sadr wants — then the Shiites, who make up roughly 60 percent of Iraq's popula tion, could turn against the U.S. oc cupation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized spokespersons and be cause their views are at odds with the administration's efforts to re main upbeat. The Shiite attacks represent a new level of resistance to the U.S. pres ence in Iraq. Most of the violence until this week has been perpetrated by members of Iraq's Sunni minori ty, who were dominant under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Publicly, Bush administration of ficials attempted to play down the significance of the growing violence. "Sadr and his small number of followers — we don't see them as representative of a religious cause but rather as representative of politi cal gangsterism," said State Depart ment spokesman Adam Ereli. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a radio interview that "the major problem we're having in the south right now is from Sadr. ... I don't think they reflect the views of all of the Shias in the south.... Other clerics in the south have not come out in support of what Sadr is do ing." Aides to President Bush reiterated they have no intention of changing the June 30 deadline for handing over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government. Separately, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said U.S. com manders in Iraq would get more troops if they requested them. There currently are about 135,000 U.S. military personnel in the country. "They will decide what they need and they will get what they need," Rumsfeld said at a news conference in Norfolk, Va„ with NATO Secre tary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. (c) 2004, Knight Ridder7Tribune Information Services.
