World

3 Civilians, 9 Iraqi Cops, Killed

March 24, 2004 / 9:55 AM EST / CBS/AP

Insurgents attacked a U.S. patrol in Fallujah early Wednesday and an ensuing battle left three civilians dead and three wounded, eyewitnesses and a doctor said.

The fighting came hours after assailants shot at a van carrying police recruits south of Baghdad, killing nine, while gunmen killed two policemen in the north. The slayings were the latest to target police and other Iraqis who work with the U.S.-led occupation.

Associated Press Television News footage of the aftermath of the battle in the town of Fallujah, about 32 miles west of Baghdad, showed two civilian cars burned, blood stains on the ground and bullet holes in walls, as well as two wounded Iraqis being taken into a hospital.

"American troops came under attack while they were patrolling in the main street," Fallujah resident Ahmed Ali said.

U.S. officials in Baghdad said they had no information on the attack. Muthana al-Jumeili, a doctor at Fallujah General Hospital, said three civilians had died and three were wounded. Fallujah is a hotbed of insurgent activity.

In other recent developments:

Striking before dawn Wednesday, attackers fired a rocket that struck the Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad, which is protected by U.S. troops, and is the place where many foreign contractors and journalists stay. The rocket hit a sixth-floor ledge and the explosion left the lobby strewn with glass. No casualties are reported.

Iraq's main oil pipeline leading to the Gulf has ruptured, spilling large amounts of oil that caught fire. The break in the pipeline Tuesday is believed to be due to poor maintenance. Witnesses say the spill - some 55 miles south of Basra - is about 2.5 miles long, with large clouds of black smoke filling the sky.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, gunmen in a car killed two policemen and wounded two others, police Capt. Abdul-Salam Zangana said. He identified the slain victims as twin brothers Ahmed and Mohammed Kadhim, killed as they were parking their car in a main square and as worshippers left a nearby mosque.

At Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, the U.S. military has released 272 detainees who had been picked up in security sweeps. Some 5,500 to 6,000 security detainees are believed to be held there.

The Pentagon is rushing into service in Iraq a pair of technologies developed under its advanced research arm: a Humvee-mounted sensor for pinpointing hostile gunfire and a "command post of the future" designed to cut down on combat leaders' travel and streamline decision-making.

Tuesday's roadside attack on police recruits in the south took place between Musayeb and Hillah when a car pulled in front of the minibus and assailants sprayed it with small arms fire, police in Hillah said.

A U.S. military official confirmed that nine people died and said two were wounded. Iraqi police said one wounded trainee survived.

In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, Iraqi police fired shots to disperse a violent protest against Israel's assassination of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City.

Iraqi police fired in the air after protesters burned two police cars and two hand grenades were thrown at the governor's office, witnesses said. Television footage showed U.S. soldiers remaining behind at the building, protected by concrete blast barriers, as police with assault rifles moved down the street to disperse the crowd. At least two police and three protesters were wounded.

Muslim clerics in Ramadi, where support for the anti-U.S. insurgency is strong, had urged followers to protest the slaying of Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Palestinian militant group.

In the northern city of Mosul Tuesday, insurgents fired mortar rounds at a barracks housing soldiers of the U.S.-trained Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, killing two civilians and injuring six, the U.S. military said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council said the council will investigate alleged corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program.

Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for Ahmad Chalabi, said the council will hire international legal and auditing firms as well as specialized Iraqi firms to conduct the probe.

On Monday, the United Nations said Secretary-General Kofi Annan would give the Security Council details about a planned independent commission to investigate claims of corruption in the program.

Diplomats, officials and companies from around the world allegedly collected millions of dollars in illegal profits from the program, which allowed Iraq to sell some of its oil to pay for food during the years of economic sanctions. The program ended in November.