World

12 Marines Killed In Iraq Clash

April 7, 2004 / 6:34 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Insurgents and rebellious Shiites mounted a string of deadly attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces in the south and in the Sunni Triangle. Twelve U.S. Marines were killed in Ramadi alone, U.S. officials said, and at least 66 Iraqis died from Fallujah to Nasiriyah.

Tuesday's clashes capped three days of violence — the worst fighting since Saddam Hussein was toppled last year. At least 136 Iraqis and 30 coalition troops have been killed since Sunday.

In Ramadi, dozens of Iraqis attacked U.S. Marines near the governor's palace late Tuesday, a senior U.S. defense official said in Washington. "A significant number" of U.S. Marines were killed, and initial reports indicate it may be up to a dozen, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Heavy casualties were inflicted on the insurgents as well, U.S. officials said. It was not immediately known who the attackers were.

In Fallujah, where Iraqis had braced for retaliation following last week's killing of four American civilians, U.S. Marines drove into the center of the Sunni city in heavy fighting Tuesday.

At least eight Iraqis were killed and 20 wounded in the fighting, hospital officials said.

The upswing in anti-U.S. violence is highlighting the

understaffing of U.S. troops in Iraq

, CBS military analyst retired Col. Mitch Mitchell told Dan Rather.

"We have to go into a peace-making and peace-keeping mission there and we don't have enough forces on the ground to do both of those missions," said Mitchell.

We need several hundred thousand troops on the ground to do the job right. It doesn't have to be all American forces, it could be coalition forces and it could be led by the United Nations," said Mitchell.

Later Tuesday, U.S. warplanes fired rockets that destroyed four homes in Fallujah, witnesses said. The bodies of 26 Iraqis were brought in after the strike, and at least 30 people came in with injuries, said Rafie al-Issawi, a doctor at Fallujah General Hospital.

After a weekend of countrywide violence sparked primarily by followers of the fiery Muqtada al-Sadr, fighting again was reported in Nasiriyah, Kut, Amarah and northern Baghdad. There were 15 Iraqis killed in Nasiriyah and another 15 dead in Amarah, coalition military officials said.

Al-Sadr left his fortress-like complex in Kufa and moved to an office near a sacred shrine in the holy city of Najaf, vowing to shed his own blood to oust the American occupation.

Al-Sadr draws most of his support from a small segment of Iraq's majority Shiite population. He is backed mainly by the poor and primarily those who live in the Sadr City neighborhood of east Baghdad.

In other news:

A Ukrainian solider was killed in clash in Iraqi city of Kut, the Defense Ministry said.

Fighting overnight between followers of radical Shiite cleric and British troops killed 15 Iraqis, coalition spokesman says.

Gunmen attacked Italian forces in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Tuesday. Fifteen Iraqis died and 12 Italians were wounded, the Italian Ministry of Defense said.

Security problems and the approaching June 30th transition in Iraq will top the agenda when British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets with President Bush next week, The New York Times reports.

The U.S. Army is conducting medical tests on a handful of soldiers who complained of illnesses after reported exposure to depleted uranium — a material used for tank armor and armor-piercing weapons.

Iraq is worse off now, after the U.S.-led invasion, than it was under Saddam Hussein, Hans Blix told a Danish newspaper Tuesday. He cited "the many casualties during the war and the many people who still die" in terror attacks.

In a series of U.S. television interviews Tuesday, L. Paul Bremer, the top civilian administrator in Iraq, conceded not all was going smoothly as the coalition approached a June 30 handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis.