World

2 GIs Die In Iraq, Alert Raised

October 7, 2004 / 1:10 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Two American soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in separate attacks involving roadside bombs, U.S. officials said Thursday, and 20 Iraqis were arrested in the north in operations against those suspected of planting explosives.

Explosions and gunfire erupted Thursday night outside hotels housing foreigners and journalists in Baghdad.

A fire was burning outside the Sheraton Hotel. It was believed caused by one of several projectiles that landed in the compound.

Bursts of automatic gunfire were heard in the street between the two hotels.

U.S. authorities, meanwhile, raised the security alert in the heavily guarded Green Zone after an improvised bomb was found in front of a restaurant there.

In other developments:

The attacks and the alert reflected a shaky security situation that U.S. commanders have said they are hoping Iraqi recruits will help stabilize. Officials announced the graduation Thursday of 955 Iraqi police officers — but would not say where the two ceremonies took place. Iraq's beleaguered security forces are the target of regular bombings, mortar attacks and shooting sprees.

Contrary to the pre-war assertions of the Bush administration, Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led invasion last year, the chief U.S. weapons hunter found.

The weapons hunter's report also says the Iraqi government manipulated the U.N. oil-for-food program from 1996 to 2003 in order to acquire billions of dollars in illicit gains and to import illegal goods, including parts for missile systems. A top U.N. official may even have accepted bribes.

Insurgent violence in Iraq has impeded the U.S. military's search for clues to the fate of missing Navy pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, a Marine Corps general says. Speicher was shot down in the Gulf War but his remains were never found.

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed the chief engineer for a local U.S.-run television station in Mosul.

Violence in Iraq risks plunging the country into the chaos of a disintegrating "failed state" resembling terrorist havens like pre-Sept. 11 Afghanistan, Germany's intelligence chief said.

On Wednesday, a suicide car bomber slammed into an Iraqi military checkpoint northwest of Baghdad, killing 16 Iraqis and wounding about 30, Iraqi officials said.

An aide to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr offered Thursday to hand over medium and heavy weapons and cooperate with Iraqi security forces in the capital if the government stops pursuing members of the Shiite militia and releases most of al-Sadr followers held in jail. U.S. warplanes struck the al Sadr stronghold of Baghdad's Sadr City — named for his father — overnight to neutralize roadside bombs.

About 240 detainees were released from U.S. and Iraqi custody Thursday, the U.S. military said. It was the fourth round of releases under a joint U.S.-Iraqi review process set up Aug. 21 following the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison. Those released included a prominent al Sadr supporter.

One U.S. soldier from the 13th Corps Support Command died when a bomb exploded near his convoy late Wednesday outside the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, the command said. Two other soldiers were wounded.

A 1st Infantry Division soldier was killed and an Iraqi interpreter wounded when insurgents attacked a patrol with a roadside bomb near Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, the command said.

Since the start of the war, at least 1,062 U.S. troops and three military contractors have died. More than 7,900 service members have been wounded.

The warning to Americans and Iraqi officials in the Green Zone followed the discovery Tuesday of an explosive device at the Green Zone Cafe, a popular hangout for Westerners living and working in the compound — which houses major U.S. and Iraqi government offices. A U.S. military ordnance detachment safely disarmed it, U.S. officials said.

Americans living and working in the zone were warned to avoid non-essential movements, travel in groups and avoid specific areas.

Although movements in and out of the Green Zone are restricted, about 10,000 Iraqis live inside the 4-square-mile district, located along the western side of the Tigris river.

In Mosul, the U.S. military said American and Iraqi forces detained 20 people in operations in northern Iraq and foiled a roadside bombing Wednesday in the city of Tal Afar, scene of intense fighting last month between U.S. soldiers and insurgents.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are trying to restore enough control so that national elections can be held in January. The election is considered a vital step toward building Iraqi democracy. President Bush and Prime Minister Ayad Allawi insist the balloting will take place throughout the country, despite warnings by some U.S. military officials that elections in some areas may not be possible.

As part of the new security push, more than 3,000 U.S. and Iraqi forces are trying to clear an insurgent stronghold in a string of towns and villages just south of Baghdad, notorious for kidnappings and ambushes.

A statement by the U.S. command Thursday said 17 suspected insurgents were captured the day before in two joint raids by U.S and Iraqi troops around Haswah and Iskandariyah, both about 30 miles south of Baghdad.