Costly day in Iraq as 20 U.S. troops killed
Source: Reuters
(Updates toll, adds Sadr aide, other incidents) By Alastair Macdonald and Mariam Karouny BAGHDAD, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. forces had one of their costliest days in Iraq on Saturday when 20 troops were killed, including 13 on a helicopter and five in a clash in a Shi'ite holy city that the U.S. military blamed on militiamen. The battle at a government building in Kerbala was the bloodiest for U.S. troops in the Shi'ite south in two years and occurred as President George W. Bush presses leaders of the Shi'ite majority to crack down on militias from their community. Hours after the loss of all 13 passengers and crew aboard a Blackhawk transport helicopter, the U.S. military said five soldiers were killed and three wounded in the Kerbala clash. Two other soldiers were killed elsewhere, and the deaths of two killed on Friday were also announced. It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces since Bush said 10 days ago he was sending about 20,000 more troops to Iraq to try to prevent sectarian civil war between Shi'ite Muslims and the once-dominant Sunni Arab minority. His plans have run into resistance from opposition Democrats who now control Congress. It was unclear whether the helicopter was shot down. Residents near Baquba in violent Diyala province northeast of Baghdad said they saw a helicopter in flames in the air. Thousands of pilgrims are thronging Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, at the start of the 10-day rite of Ashura, a highpoint of the Shi'ite calendar and a target before for attacks by al Qaeda and other Sunnis. "The Provincial Joint Coordination Center (PJCC) in Kerbala was attacked with grenades, small arms and indirect fires by an illegally armed militia group," the U.S. military said in a statement, apparently blaming Shi'ite militiamen rather than Sunni insurgents whom it usually refers to as "terrorists". "Five U.S. soldiers were killed and three wounded while repelling the attack." It made no mention of attackers killed or detained and officials did not immediately respond to queries on how the assailants' identity was established. CONVOY An Iraqi local government official who said he was in the building throughout questioned the identification of those who fought the U.S. troops posted outside a joint U.S.-Iraqi base, in the provincial governor's headquarters, just after dark. Describing how a convoy of half a dozen white, U.S.-made, unmarked four-wheel drive vehicles approached the compound around 6 p.m. (1500 GMT), he said armed men in the convoy exchanged heavy fire with U.S. soldiers. U.S. troops and Iraqi special forces later searched the office of the governor and other senior officials, said the official, who represents a major Shi'ite political party and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. "It's still very mysterious," he said. "I'm not sure why they say those people who came in were militia." Relations have become strained between Washington and the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government as the United States presses Baghdad to rein in Shi'ite militias blamed for death squad killings and tries to limit the influence of Shi'ite Iran. Not since U.S. troops fought street battles with the Mehdi Army of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in southern Iraq in 2004 have U.S. forces had such heavy casualties in the region. Sadr remains a potent force, both inside government behind Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, where the Mehdi Army has been accused by Washington of being the greatest threat to Iraq. Aides to Sadr accused Washington of trying to provoke a confrontation by arresting one of its spokesmen on Friday. Maliki has been criticised by U.S. and Sunni leaders of failing to tackle the Mehdi Army but the premier vowed this month to crack down on Shi'ite militias as well as Sunni groups in a major operation backed by U.S. reinforcements in Baghdad. Sadr, a young populist cleric, enjoys a mass following in Iraq and some backing from neighbouring Shi'ite Iran. Washington has warned Iran not to aid Shi'ite militants and has complained Syria is helping Sunni insurgents. At the end of a visit to Damascus by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Syria condemned as "terrorism" attacks on Iraq's U.S.-backed forces. In southern Baghdad, where forces are on alert to protect pilgrims during Ashura, about 100 Iraqi police commandos backed by six U.S. helicopters killed 15 suspected Sunni insurgents. U.S. forces also said they foiled an attempt to smuggle a car bomb into Baghdad's Green Zone government compound.
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