[A-List] Iraq: the quagmire deepens

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Two U.S. Soldiers Killed, One Wounded in Baghdad
By REUTERS
New York Times: February 12, 2004

BAGHDAD, Feb 12 - A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, the
U.S. military said on Thursday, as Iraqis began burying dozens of victims of
two attacks against locals working with the U.S.-led occupation.

The U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division said the bomb exploded at 9:30 p.m.
(1830 GMT) on Wednesday as the soldiers were passing by in their vehicles.
The casualties were evacuated to a combat support hospital for treatment
where two soldiers later died, it said in a statement.

The attack on the U.S. patrol came hours after a suicide car bomb killed 47
people at an army recruitment centre in the capital. A similar attack on a
police station south of Baghdad killed 53 people on Tuesday.

Only a few of the bodies from Wednesday's blast had been taken for burial.
Doctors said some corpses were difficult to identify due to mutilation or
bad burns.

The police and new army are central to Washington's plan to hand over power
to Iraqis by June 30. Most of Wednesday's victims were newly recruited
soldiers reporting for duty.

The attacks follow a pattern of targeting Iraqis seen as collaborating with
the U.S. occupation. Twin suicide bombings in northern Iraq against two
Kurdish parties allied with the United States killed more than 100 people on
February 1.

At least 372 American soldiers have been killed in combat since U.S.-led
forces invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein last March.