Ten Iraqis killed in ambush

Washington Times (UPI)
12 December 2004

Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Ten newly-recruited members of the Iraqi National Guard were killed and 20 others were injured Sunday in an ambush by militants in western Iraq. Iraqi sources said that about ten gunmen ambushed a small bus carrying the guardsmen in the city of Heet, opening fire before fleeing.

Meanwhile, an American military spokesman in Iraq said a U.S. soldier died of wounds he received in battles in al-Ramadi on Saturday night.

In the city of al-Madaen south of Baghdad, four Iraqis were killed when gunmen opened fire on people selling auto fuel on the sidewalks at black market prices. Iraqi authorities, which recently banned selling black-market gasoline, arrested several people involved in such operations.

In the northern Kurdish city of Erbil, three people were injured Sunday in a car explosion targeting an official of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, led by Masoud Barazani. A military spokesman said the U.S.-Iraqi forces also arrested 50 suspected Iraqis in the past 24 hours during widespread house raids in cities east of Iraq.

Caches of weapons and ammunition were seized during the raids and the suspects were charged with launching attacks against the U.S.-led foreign forces in the country, as well as against the Iraqi police and national guards, the spokesman said.

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Citation: "Ten Iraqis killed in ambush," Washington Times (UPI), 12 December 2004.