By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer FALLUJAH, Iraq - In a scene reminiscent of Somalia, frenzied crowds dragged the burned, mutilated bodies of four American contractors through the streets of a town west of Baghdad on Wednesday and strung two of them up from a bridge after rebels ambushed their SUVs.
Five U.S. soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division also were killed when a bomb
exploded under their M-113 armored personnel carrier north of Fallujah, making
it the bloodiest day for Americans in Iraq (news
- web
sites) since Jan. 8.
The four contract workers were killed in Fallujah, a Sunni Triangle city
about 35 miles west of Baghdad and scene of some of the worst violence on both
sides of the conflict since the beginning of the American occupation a year ago.
Chanting "Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans," residents cheered after
the grisly assault on two four-wheel-drive civilian vehicles left both SUVs in
flames.
Residents in Fallujah said insurgents attacked the contractors with small
arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. After the attack, a jubilant crowd of
civilians, none of whom appeared to be armed, gathered to celebrate, dragging
the bodies through the street and hanging two of them from the bridge. Many of
those in the crowd were excited young boys who shouted slogans in front of
television cameras.
Associated Press Television News pictures showed one man beating a charred
corpse with a metal pole. Others tied a yellow rope to a body, hooked it to a
car and dragged it down the main street of town. Two blackened and mangled
corpses were hung from the green, iron bridge spanning the Euphrates River.
"The people of Fallujah hung some of the bodies on the old bridge like
slaughtered sheep," resident Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. Some corpses were
dismembered, he said.
The White House blamed terrorists and remnants of Saddam Hussein (news
- web
sites)'s former regime for the "horrific attacks" on the American
contractors.
"It is offensive, it is despicable the way these individuals have been
treated," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
Referring to the planned June 30 transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis, McClellan
said "the best way to honor those that lost their lives" is to continue with
efforts to bring democracy to Iraq.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the contractors, all men, "were
trying to make a difference and to help others."
U.S. officials did not identify the dead or the nature of their work because
the next of kin had not yet been notified.
However, early evidence indicated they worked for Blackwater Security
Consulting, a company based in Moyock, N.C., the company said in a statement.
The security firm hires former military members from the United States and other
countries to provide security training and guard services. In Iraq, the company
was hired by the Pentagon (news
- web
sites) to provide security for convoys that delivered food in the Fallujah
area, the company statement said.
The abuse and mutilation of the contractors' corpses was similar to the scene
more than a decade ago in Somalia, when a mob dragged corpses of U.S. soldiers
through the streets of Mogadishu, eventually leading to the American withdrawal
from the African nation. The images were broadcast worldwide and became the
subject of the book and movie "Black Hawk Down."
But Wednesday's images of the four civilians killed in Iraq filled television
screens worldwide Wednesday but were largely shunned by American television that
deemed them too graphic.
In London, Channel 4 News broadcast an electronically blurred body being
dragged through the street. In Paris, LCI television station showed the footage
of the bodies without blurring them. In Germany, ZDF News showed riot scenes but
not any bodies.
On Wednesday, a man held a printed sign with a skull and crossbones and the
phrase "Fallujah is the cemetery for Americans" beneath the blackened corpses
after they were pulled from the vehicles.
One body was tied to a car that had a poster in its window of Sheik Ahmed
Yassin, the founder of the Palestinian militant group Hamas who was assassinated
by the Israeli military in Gaza City.
One resident displayed what appeared to be dog tags taken from one body.
Residents also said there were weapons in the targeted cars. APTN showed an
American passport near a body and a U.S. Department of Defense (news
- web
sites) identification card belonging to another man.
Some of the slain contractors were wearing flak jackets, resident Safa
Mohammedi said.
In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the coalition would not be deterred
from its mission to rebuild Iraq, and that numerous reconstruction projects were
moving forward nationwide even though attention was focused on the attacks.
The roadside bomb that killed the five American soldiers Wednesday was in
Malahma, 12 miles northwest of Fallujah, where anti-U.S. insurgents are active.
Their deaths raised the number of U.S. troops killed in March to at least 48,
making it the second-deadliest month for U.S. troops since President Bush (news
- web
sites) declared an end to major combat on May 1. The deadliest month was
November, when 82 U.S. troops were killed.
In all, at least 597 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the war began March
20, 2003. Of the total, 459 have died since May 1 when Bush flew onto an
aircraft carrier off the California coast to declare the end of major combat.
Kimmitt said that over the past week, there has been an average of 28 attacks
daily against coalition military, compared with an average of just under 20
daily attacks in previous weeks.
In the deadliest previous incident this year, nine soldiers were killed Jan.
8 when their Black Hawk medevac helicopter crashed near Fallujah, apparently
after being shot down.
Fallujah is in the so-called Sunni Triangle, where support for Saddam was
strong and rebels often carry out attacks against American forces. U.S. Marines
recently took over authority in the region from the departing U.S. Army's 82nd
Airborne Division.
In an effort to forcefully establish their presence, the newly arrived
Marines have conducted numerous patrols in Fallujah and have engaged in fierce
firefights with rebels. In recent months, U.S. soldiers were not seen as often
in the center of town.
The Marines have said they will aggressively pursue guerrillas in Fallujah.
However, no U.S. troops or Iraqi police were seen in the area after the attacks
Wednesday, and the city was quiet.
In nearby Ramadi, insurgents threw a grenade at a government building and
Iraqi security forces returned fire Wednesday, witnesses said. It was not clear
if there were casualties.
Also in Ramadi, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy, witnesses said.
U.S. officials in Baghdad could not confirm the attack.
Northeast of Baghdad, in the city of Baqouba on Wednesday, a suicide bomber
blew up explosives in his car when he was near a convoy of government vehicles,
wounding 14 Iraqis and killing himself, officials said. The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie" |
