US soldier dies as doubts grow over Samarra

US soldier dies as doubts grow over Samarra
By Nurah Tape
Tuesday 02 December 2003, 0:05 Makka Time, 21:05 GMT

Civilians are increasingly bearing the brunt of occupation

A US soldier has died of bullet wounds even as doubts were cast over the
version of events being put out by the Pentagon over Sunday night's
bloodbath in Samarra.

The occupation soldier was wounded when he was attacked by resistance
fighters west of Baghdad on Monday morning.

No further details were available.

In Samarra, scenes of devastation dotted the town after  fierce US attacks
in which senior police and hospital officials said at least eight civilians
were killed and dozens wounded.

American troops said on Monday that 54 resistance fighters had been killed
in clashes on Sunday.

But our correspondent and other news agencies quoted  hospital sources and
Samarra residents as saying that the US fire killed eight people, all
civilians.

Samarra hospital accident and emergency department anaesthetist Bassam
Ibrahim said "we received the bodies of eight civilians, including a woman
and a child".

It was not immediately clear whether the dead civilians included two
Iranians on a visit to holy sites found dead in their bus.

Hospital director Abd Tawfiq said "more than 60 people wounded by gunfire
and shrapnel from US rounds are being treated at the hospital".

Colonel Fredrick Rudesheim said the toll was 46, repeating an earlier
number. He added it was not a firm toll based on a body count, but an
estimate based on interviews with all the soldiers involved.

The attacks on US troops were "coordinated" and targeted two convoys
transporting new Iraqi currency as part of an exchange scheme to replace old
notes, added Rudesheim.

AFP correspondents saw a civilian bus completely burned out 30 metres from
the main entrance to the town's hospital.

The correspondents were shown two Iranian passports said to belong to the
visitors killed in the bus. Nine others, also Iranians, were wounded, said
the police guard outside the hospital.

Tehran concern

Iranian officials expressed concern over the incident and called for an
immediate investigation into the attack.

Tehran warned the incident could further harm Iranian-US ties

Reda Yosofyan, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security and
foreign policy commission, said Washington was directly responsible for the
Iranians' death.

"This event will evoke even more distrust between Iran and the US," he told
Aljazeera.net. Yosofyan also called on the US-appointed Iraqi Governing
Council to investigate the incident and report the findings to Tehran.

But Council spokesman Hamid al-Kifai said he did not know of any Iranian
deaths in the Samarra attack. "We cannot discuss anything which we do not
know about," he told Aljazeera.net.

Yosofyan warned that such incidents might harm future ties between Baghdad
and Tehran if they were not investigated.
When contacted by Aljazeera.net, a US military spokesman in Baghdad said
they had no information on any Iranian deaths. In response to the toll, he
said, "I cannot respond to that because I do not have the details."

These are not the first Iranian casualties as a result of US fire since the
Washington-led invasion of Iraq.

In the early days of the invasion, a stray missile landed near Iran's
western border, injuring a number of civilians.
Worshippers wounded

The town's police chief Colonel Ismail Mahmud Muhammad said about 20 of the
injured sustained their injuries while worshipping at a mosque during sunset
prayers.

Resistance fighters who had attacked occupation forces had withdrawn when
the Americans returned fire, said Muhammad.
Troops had done so indiscriminately with all weapons in their arsenal, he
added.

"There was an attack and an exchange of fire between the Americans and the
resistance lasting half an hour. The resistance withdrew, then bombardments
started using all manner of weapons in all directions and without any
discrimination," said Muhammad.

He also said eight civilians were killed, including a child.

Shaikh Muhammad Abd al-Karim, in charge of security on the local municipal
council, cited police reports that the clashes had begun when assailants
attacked a US convoy after it had delivered money to the al-Rashid Bank.

"There were shots, and then a half-hour exchange with the assailants, who
then fled," he said.

"Then there was a massive US bombardment in which buildings, including
mosques and schools, were hit by the Americans."

Abd al-Karim said that Apache helicopter gunships had opened fire during the
bombardment of the built-up area, although flares carried by the assault
aircraft can sometimes be mistaken for cannon fire.

The impact of a rocket could be seen on one of the outer walls of the
al-Shafi mosque, nearly 50 metres from the hospital. Its windows had been
shattered by the blast.

Ali Abd Allah Amin, 12, who was being treated at the hospital with his
five-year-old brother for wounds sustained in the mosque, said their father
had been killed in the firing.

In another street in the town where a US convoy came under attack earlier in
the day, a car parked outside a chemist's shop had been completely
flattened, apparently by a tank.

Aljazeera + Agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/