BAGHDAD, April 6, 2008

3 U.S. Troops Killed In Mortar Attacks

31 Others Wounded As Rockets Strike Baghdad's Green Zone And Base In Rustamiyah

  • Photo

     (AP / CBS)

  • Interactive Iraq: 5 Years At War

    Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.

  • Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos

    A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.

(CBS/AP)  The U.S. military says rocket or mortar attacks against the U.S.-protected Green Zone and a military base elsewhere in Baghdad have killed three American service members and wounded 31.

A military official says two U.S. troops were killed and 17 wounded when rockets struck the Green Zone in central Baghdad.

The official says another American service member died and 14 were wounded in another attack on a military base in the southeastern area of Rustamiyah.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to release the information.

The attacks come amid fierce clashes between Shiite militia fighters and U.S.-Iraqi forces.

In Other Developments:

  • Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces battled Shiite fighters in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood in clashes that killed 22 people and wounded more than 50 despite a cease-fire between the government and the militia, officials said Sunday.

  • To the north, police said gunmen seized 42 students off a bus near the city of Mosul - al Qaeda's last major urban stronghold - but later released them unharmed.

    The U.S. military said that fighting broke out overnight in Sadr City, a stronghold of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militants. Officials at two local hospitals said 22 people were killed and 92 wounded.

    The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, did not say whether the casualties were civilians or fighters. U.S. and Iraqi forces released no information about the casualties.

    A police officer said that a U.S. Stryker armored personnel carrier was damaged in the fighting, which continued with sporadic exchanges of fire through Sunday morning.

    Two armored Humvee vehicles and two trucks belonging to the Iraqi army were also destroyed, said the officer, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

    The U.S. military said it had no information about a Stryker being damaged.

  • An Iraqi government offensive against the Mahdi army in the southern city of Basra ground to a halt last week amid fierce resistance. Al-Sadr issued a cease-fire order and the government agreed to halt raids against his followers.

    During the operation, nearly 1,000 government soldiers and policemen deserted and handed over their weapons and vehicles to the Mahdi fighters.

    "It was obvious that there was negligence among some members of our security forces and this issue will be dealt with according to the law," Tahseen al-Sheikhli, spokesman for the Baghdad security operation, told reporters Sunday.

    Although scattered clashes continued between his fighters and Iraqi security forces, the Iraqi government relaxed security measures Saturday around the Mahdi Army strongholds of Sadr City and the Shula neighborhood.

  • In an effort to ease conditions for Sadr City's 2.5 million residents, the government has allowed trucks carrying maintenance teams, food, oil products and ambulances into the area.

    A vehicle ban remains in effect as part of a curfew imposed on Baghdad after fighting broke out between government forces and Shiite militants March 25. The curfew has been lifted in the rest of Baghdad.

  • In the north, Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul-Sattar said the students were waylaid about 20 miles south of Mosul on the main highway to Baghdad. Three other students on a second bus were wounded when gunmen opened fire as the driver managed to speed away, he said.

    The hijacked bus was then driven onto a farm road, where all the students were released after the gunmen made sure they were not members of the security forces, Abdul-Sattar said.

  • The two top American officials in Iraq - Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker - are to brief Congress on Tuesday on the situation in Iraq and prospects for further reductions in the U.S. troop presence.

  • Britain this month suspended plans to remove 1,500 soldiers from its 4,000-member force in southern Iraq after fighting broke out in Basra between Iraqi troops and Shiite militia and spread quickly to Baghdad and other cities.

  • Also Sunday, hundreds of mourners gathered in the capital's Karradah district for the funeral of Father Youssef Adel, an Assyrian Orthodox priest slain the day before at his home.

    One of the mourners, Midhat Faez, said the assassination was aimed at provoking conflict between Muslims and the tiny Christian community.

    "As Christians, we are terrified and our numbers are gradually diminishing," Faez said.

    © MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Video and Galleries from Iraq After Saddam

    Add a Comment See all 91 Comments
    by liberalme April 6, 2008 4:56 PM PDT
    I can''t seem to find out how many "terrorists" were killed.
    Will someone please tell me what we''re winning?
    Reply to this comment
    by sgtrds April 6, 2008 4:58 PM PDT
    Three more troops murdered by Bush and Cheney. More blood on their hands. They sent our soldiers in to invade a country that was no threat to us just because war is very profitable for big corporations. They killed all of the troops that have died for nothing! Not to free the Iraqis. Not to defend America. Not because of WMD''s. Not because of terrorism or 9-11. Just for money! Bush and Cheney are war criminals of the lowest order and mass-murdering scum!
    Reply to this comment
    by sgtrds April 6, 2008 5:01 PM PDT
    liberalme, we''''re saving face for the Shrub and his supporters. Aren''''t a few meager 4000+ dead American Soldiers worth that? I mean really....

    Posted by FloydZepp at 04:58 PM : Apr 06, 2008

    That''s right. The goal is to kick the war off to the next president so that when the inevitable collapse happens and the bloodbath really begins, Bush will be able to sit on his murdering larcenous as*s in Texas and claim that he had nothing to do with it. What a sub-human lying piece of sh*it he truly is.
    Reply to this comment
    by liberalme April 6, 2008 5:02 PM PDT
    Over 655,000 Iraq civilians, killed by 1-2% by terrorists, now OVER 4000 troops and barely 7000 terrorists---what do our leaders need to get us out of there?

    Makes me sick!
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 5:04 PM PDT
    More testimony to the ''success'' of the surge.

    The treacherous Maliki Quislings are continuing their assault on Iraqis who know if they give up their weapons they will face an endless occupation by the forces of Big Oil and Israel.

    Americans can learn something from this...never give up your guns...The real enemy is in Washington!

    Remember!! This is the Regime that could not bring aid to its citizens in the Super Dome in New Orleans after Katrina, but could conduct home searches in other areas to confiscate guns, disrupt communications of local officials and prevent aid from private sources from going where it was most needed. The Washington Regime is nobodies friend...just the abject servant of Corporate Imperialists.

    TROOPS HOME NOW! FREE IRAQ!!...FREE AMERICA!!
    Reply to this comment
    by ontheleft April 6, 2008 5:05 PM PDT
    More dead troops. The surge is working. Stay the course. Wave the flag. Yippee!
    Reply to this comment
    by timdgrim April 6, 2008 5:05 PM PDT
    liberalme:

    We''re winning more government contracts for the military industrial complex and it''s stock market investors.
    Reply to this comment
    by bgwinnett April 6, 2008 5:11 PM PDT
    Looks like the start of the fighting season, judging on this and the events of the past couple of weeks.
    Reply to this comment
    by liberalme April 6, 2008 5:12 PM PDT
    We''''re winning more government contracts for the military industrial complex and it''''s stock market investors.

    Posted by timdgrim

    We need to clean the HOUSE and SENATE--

    Concentrate on your local representatives in November--we need ALL new people in Washington!
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 5:12 PM PDT
    You can bet that Betrayus will blame this attack on Iran as well as he and the rest of the jackals who lied us into Iraq and Afghanistan try to lie us into Iran as well.
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 5:16 PM PDT
    After the election, the draft bill will make its way to the president''s desk and Americans will once again be rewarded for voting Demopublican. Bush will sign it so that the new president will not have to take responsibility for it...

    Remember that America!! Before you vote for Demopublican war pigs once more as you did in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 5:21 PM PDT
    High energy prices, five years of war, unimaginable suffering, open borders, the export of American manufacturing, huge debts and burgeoning unemployment combined with a plunging dollar...Now that''s what I would call a successful Demopublican leadership...if I were interested in destroying America...like the forces behind the Demopublicans wish to do to build their Hitler-esque New World Order.
    Reply to this comment
    by bgwinnett April 6, 2008 5:22 PM PDT
    Iraq has got to be the most stupid country ever created.
    YOU CAN''T MAKE A LAND OF TRIBES INTO NATIONS. Look at Africa and Afghanistan.The concept of Nationhood is alien to some people, so is democracy too.
    Reply to this comment
    by liberalme April 6, 2008 5:28 PM PDT
    Iraq has got to be the most stupid country ever created.
    YOU CAN''''T MAKE A LAND OF TRIBES INTO NATIONS. Look at Africa and Afghanistan.The concept of Nationhood is alien to some people, so is democracy too.

    Posted by bgwinnett at 05

    That was the premise of why Bush went into Iraq.

    We also know full well, if another country invaded America and tried to make it something is isn''t we would be fighting tooth and nail to keep our country as is.

    If the people in Iraq wanted democracy--they would have it, those who wanted it bad enough--left''

    Our only intention was the oil and the pipeline, never was anything else--I wish Bush Cheney and their "tribe" would have nightmares of drowning in the blood of the murdered, they better not go unpunished.
    Reply to this comment
    by bgwinnett April 6, 2008 5:33 PM PDT
    liberalme

    I honestly don''t know what this war was for but it was a stupid one, got to be.
    Reply to this comment
    by singingrick April 6, 2008 5:45 PM PDT


    And what did they die for?

    So that Bush and his friends can profit.


    Reply to this comment
    by joyous88 April 6, 2008 5:51 PM PDT
    the surge is working bubba

    mission accomplished
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 5:59 PM PDT
    It was Winston Churchill and the British colonial office that created Iraq...and it was created so that it would be internally unstable so that one group could be played against another. Then, the rump country was mandated to British control by the League of Nations.

    Now, eighty years later, after it had thrown off foreign oil companies and refused to crumble under murderous sanctions, it has been occupied and is hosting a dirty war under the control of the Corporate Imperialists. We are in Iraq in large part because the people of Iraq were succeeding at building a nation--a prosperous, secular nation.

    Reply to this comment
    by king77shaw April 6, 2008 6:03 PM PDT
    AMERICA - YOU%u2019RE BEING INFOTAINED RIGHT OUT OF YOUR FUTURE - DECLARE INDEPENDANCE FROM THE CORPORATE ELITE !

    1) CANCEL YOUR CABLE / SATTELITE TV: let the corporate media moguls (and their advertisers) know that you will no longer pay for their propaganda.

    2) DIVEST FROM WALL ("WAR") STREET: the banking ELITE are systematically selling out the middle class to the lowest global bidder yet they still demand the average taxpayer to bail them out when times are tough.. seem UNFAIR ? do something and DIVEST .. invest your money in land, real estate, GOLD and SILVER.

    3) SUPPORT & DEVELOP LOCAL ECONOMIES !
    - if possible, BURN WOOD for heat;
    - support local ORGANIC growers or grow some of your own food;
    - implement alternative energy sources (solar, hybrid autos etc ..)
    - develop local means of commerce not based on the failing US dollar.

    4) AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE BEGINS WITH YOU - healthy eating habits and exercise will create less demand on the system meaning lower costs. You%u2019ll have plenty of time to work out once you UNPLUG THE TV DRUG.

    5) STOP UNNECESSARY CONSUMPTION & STOP USING YOUR CREDIT CARD !

    6) DECENTRALIZE ! - the global economy is nothing more than a ploy to centralize power, control and wealth into the hands of an elite few - blinded by misinformation, the American people are buying right into it - the rich get richer and the middle class is quickly becoming the working poor.
    Reply to this comment
    by bgwinnett April 6, 2008 6:15 PM PDT
    We are in Iraq in large part because the people of Iraq were succeeding at building a nation--a prosperous, secular nation.


    Posted by Prinzowhales at 05:59 PM : Apr 06, 2008

    Yes it was prosperous until Saddam went to war against Iran and drove the country hundreds of billions into debt.
    Reply to this comment
    by bozworth4 April 6, 2008 6:17 PM PDT
    To Prinzowhales,

    I think things are going pretty well as planned. Economic, moral, and internal decay of USA. Bin Laudens'' plan is working. The quagmire is taking us down, as planned. They can''t beat us toe to toe, but with an idiot in charge they are winning. Stay the course, is the Bin Lauden battle cry!!!
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 6:21 PM PDT
    bgwinnet--It was a nation that nationalized Big Oil''s holdings long before any other Middle Eastern state, if I''m not mistaken...and, in doing so, earned itself a prominent place on Washington''s sh*tlist.
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 6:30 PM PDT
    bozworth4--We hold al Qaeda''s leash. This is a long standing and time honoured method of demoralizing an opponent. The British used it against China in the 19th century...introducing opium and fighting the Chinese in two wars because they tried to stem the trade...One of the first thing the Japanese did when they seized Manchuria was to buy heroin from the Germans pharmaceuticals to create addiction...Just look at the open borders for drugs in this country.

    This is part and parcel of the New World Order...to create chaos and then create order--their order--out of it. That is why we have unlimited immigration... that learning English is not encouraged...that the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations fund La Raza and the Aztland crowd on one hand and black seperatism and black liberation theology....the kind of theology preached by Obama''s pastor, Wright on the other hand.

    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 6:34 PM PDT
    The Washington Regime and the Corporate Imperialists that own it and run it are working against the interests of the American people and ALL of the people of the world. They sow the seeds of hatred and war and turn one against the other for their own profit and pleasure.
    Reply to this comment
    by neo267-2009 April 6, 2008 6:34 PM PDT
    Just three more of 4,000 that wouldn''t be dead if not for liberal hypocrisy. There would have been no "war" after the LIBERATION of Iraq, if the terrorists didn''t know that the liberal pacifists (rhymes with DEMOCRATS) and the News Media weren''t on their side - and Iran wouldn''t have been able to take advantage of the situation. Terrorists are merely opportunists - the real enemies of peace are the ones who make them possible - and they are here. Liberals will let any number of people die in order to advance their pathetic politcs - they are just murderers who are too cowardly to do it themselves.
    Reply to this comment
    by pollroller1 April 6, 2008 6:35 PM PDT
    King77shaw I read your post and you are right. The trouble is we are all too fat and lazy to do all that stuff. Too easy to turn on the TV, sit on the couch, eat pizza delivery and be brain washed by the news media. Me included.
    Reply to this comment
    by getcentered April 6, 2008 6:45 PM PDT
    Out in Cali there is a property owner memorializing every US service death in Iraq. Yes, there are literally 4000 crosses on their property. They represent to me the tragedy that can be the MIS-USE of our military. The Vietnam memorial means the same to some from that era. The WW2 memorials mark a time of unification of the world to bring down two empires-to-be.

    What will the Iraqi war memorial look like?
    How many names are going to be on it?
    Will we obfuscate the reasons for the fallen for our own historical gratification?
    Reply to this comment
    by getcentered April 6, 2008 6:46 PM PDT
    People who vote for Republicans are very angry right now. They feel somewhat responsible for our brothers and sisters dying in Iraq, and they should, but that does not mean that because you voted for a warmonger in the last few elections that you have to continue to do so.

    Republicans:
    Stop feeling so bad and stop voting for GOP''er just because you keep hearing the word "team" associated with them. This is not Football, your votes can help decide whether our brothers and sisters fight and die for causes that all Americans believe in and support.

    Do not let your guilt get in the way of your intelligence!
    By the way, where are the centrist Republicans? Why does the GOP have to have a big rubber stamp as a constituency?

    I would rather have a "inexperienced" Democrat wasting a 500 billion on helping the poor or disabled or uneducated, than have a neo-con Republican blow 500 billion on killing tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi and thousands of US service men and women.

    In the last 8 years or so Republicans have shown me that they will do anything and everything in their power to keep you from retaining an opinion based on the facts that their incompetence is comprised of.
    Reply to this comment
    by bgwinnett April 6, 2008 6:47 PM PDT
    Prinzowhales

    Come to think of it, Iraq was invaded to protect the Dollar, because Iraq had recently switched over to trading oil in Euros. Iran did this too in March 06, if the Dollar continues to fall through the floor, I think that they will bomb Iran.
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 6:50 PM PDT
    bgwinnet--I know Iraq announced they were going to stop trading oil for dollars...the invasion may have "preempted" the move...if it didn''t "preempt" much of anything else.
    Reply to this comment
    by joyous88 April 6, 2008 7:08 PM PDT
    mission accomplished

    the surge is working

    four more of the same McBushCain
    Reply to this comment
    by blackwater66-2009 April 6, 2008 7:10 PM PDT
    Brothers everywhere - raise your hands into the air
    We''re warriors, warriors of the world
    Like thunder from the sky - sworn to fight and die
    We''re warriors, warriors of the world

    Many stand against us, but they will never win
    We said we would return and here we are again
    To bring them all destruction, suffering and pain
    We are the hammer of the gods, we are thunder, wind and rain.
    HOOORAH !!!!! to the Warriors !!!
    Reply to this comment
    by antoniof123 April 6, 2008 7:19 PM PDT
    4014, baby!
    --posted by FloydZepp

    -How many unborn babies were murdered because of abortion(murder) this year Floyd?

    Posted by libagenda at 06:07 PM : Apr 06, 2008

    Just like a neo con can''t beat them so they try to divide them. Your colors are showing but hey talk tough because in November you will see just how tough true Americans are when we send the Senate neo cons home for good.

    It happened in the 1950''s and they felt the Americans anger for 40 years and that was due to a Senator how long will they feel it due to a President.

    It has been coming unification through hate like Hitler did with Germany only works for so long then it comes crashing down around you.
    Reply to this comment
    by smirk5 April 6, 2008 7:34 PM PDT
    Sure we''ve got the enemy on the run. Losing soldiers in the green zone due to rocket attacks shows this very clearly.
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 6, 2008 7:35 PM PDT
    McCarthy was brought down because he started looking at the New York banking establishment...the people who helped finance the Bolshevik Revolution and helped finance the Nazi war machine...
    ...In America, you are the cat''s meow if you content yourself with opposing a bunch of dumb animals trying to march through Skokie...or nail some Greenwich Village ideologue for opposing prayer in the classroom...or chase octogenarian Latvian prison guards...but if you try to lift the curtain to expose the real b*stards behind these totalitarian movements...well, you are just anti-American and those b*stards, through their ABCNBCCRBCNNFOXPBS propaganda machine will let you know about it!
    Reply to this comment
    by smirk5 April 6, 2008 7:40 PM PDT
    Year 6 and the "Green Zone" is vulnerable to attack from within Baghdad. This is what the Cons call "working".
    Reply to this comment
    by smirk5 April 6, 2008 7:45 PM PDT
    As soon as Betrayus can defend the Green Zone, maybe his surge will start working.
    Reply to this comment
    by jayrod0224 April 6, 2008 7:47 PM PDT
    I know first hand that the surge is NOT working, how you ask? Because I am here! Never in my life have I ever seen a President and his administration this incompetent, Mister President (Cheney) and your puppet (Bush) are as we used to say in the military- You are ate up!
    Reply to this comment
    by rebelscout April 6, 2008 7:49 PM PDT
    THE SURGE IS WORKING HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
    Reply to this comment
    by baghdadshere April 6, 2008 7:54 PM PDT
    "Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces battled Shiite fighters in Baghdad''s Sadr City neighborhood in clashes that killed 22 people and wounded more than 50 despite a cease-fire between the government and the militia, officials said Sunday."

    70 less members of MUQTADAs outlaw militia and you retarded leftwingers jihadiots dont say anything about it.
    Reply to this comment
    by rebelscout April 6, 2008 8:01 PM PDT
    Outlaw militia. Novel term.It''s their country and yet they are the outlaw''s We invaded for NO GOOD REASON! You would be pi$$ed off if it happened here. Someone installed a puppet goverment.
    Reply to this comment
    by demslie April 6, 2008 8:01 PM PDT
    Hillary''s Campaign Chief quit today as her presidential bid goes sour and CBS (Communist Broadcast System) and Democrats don''t even mention it. I wonder how much Howard Dean and the DNC paid CBS to keep this story silent. And these Demorats are the people we should vote for?
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman April 6, 2008 8:06 PM PDT
    demslie,,,, This article as in many others are about the lack of progress in security & the deaths of Americans in the Green Zone
    Reply to this comment
    by jayrod0224 April 6, 2008 8:12 PM PDT
    There is a difference between being stupid and being dumb. Dumb is when you do not know, Stupid is when you know better, but continue to do. Bush Administration- Stupid- enough said
    Reply to this comment
    by mcvet April 6, 2008 8:21 PM PDT
    Hillary''''s Campaign Chief quit today as her presidential bid goes sour and CBS (Communist Broadcast System) and Democrats don''''t even mention it. I wonder how much Howard Dean and the DNC paid CBS to keep this story silent. And these Demorats are the people we should vote for?


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    Posted by demslie at 08:01 PM : Apr 06, 2008
    + report abuse

    Duh?? YOU fascist have taken the nation from a balanced budget to a 9.3 Trillion Dollar Debt, the Interest alone on that debt cost us 430 Billion last year alone. Your fuhrer has LIED us into a war that never had to be and it''s costing us 28 BILLION a month. It would appear to me that you have enough problems in your own house to be concerned with those involving the Democrats. Sieg Heil Bush!! Dumb as a box of rocks!!
    Reply to this comment
    by mcvet April 6, 2008 8:30 PM PDT
    70 less members of MUQTADAs outlaw militia and you retarded leftwingers jihadiots dont say anything about it.



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    Posted by BaghdadsHere at 07:54 PM : Apr 06, 2008
    + report abuse


    You pathetic Swastika Hugger... there is NO WAY of knowing if the people dead and hurt were Militants or just citizens who happened to get in the way. Honest you have watched way to many John Wayne movies and THAT is not what a civil war is about Sparky... not even close! Sieg Heil Bush
    Reply to this comment
    by sgtrds April 6, 2008 8:34 PM PDT
    4014 and all of them murdered by Bush and Cheney as if they''d shot them themselves. All dead, along with tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, just to put more money and power into the bank accounts of the very rich. No spreading freedom. No connection to a war on terror. No WMD''s. No connection to 9-11. Just for money. These troops died for the rich and not a single thing more. In effect they died for nothing.
    Reply to this comment
    by ontheleft April 6, 2008 8:36 PM PDT
    More dead soldiers. Praise the Lord! More destruction. Hallelujah! More U.S. taxpayer money being wasted. Praise Jesus!
    Reply to this comment
    by foolprophet April 6, 2008 8:44 PM PDT
    ontheleft chews on used maxi pads because his love for blood is so great.
    Reply to this comment
    by foolprophet April 6, 2008 8:46 PM PDT
    Every one of Sadr''s militants deserves a slow bloody death. And ontheleft will be right there, licking their blood off the streets.
    Reply to this comment
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