Insurgents Attack U.S. Convoys in Iraq

Wednesday, November 5, 2003

(3:13 PM ET)

By Mariam Fam

Associated Press Writer

Associated Press correspondent Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Baghdad

Talabani appeared to have been angered by comments made by Syria's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bushra Kanafani to the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Kanafani was quoted as saying the interim Governing Council does not have authority in Iraq. “The council's representation of the Iraqi people is better than the representation of any Arab country to its people,” Talabani said.

Locals walk past a U.S. Army tank patrolling the center of Baghdad, Wednesday, Nov 5, 2003. Mortars where fired into the city's “Green Zone”, late Tuesday, the highly guarded headquarters area of the U.S.-led occupation, wounding at least three people and shaking downtown Baghdad with explosions.

Image Credit: Hadi Mizban -- AP

MOSUL, Iraq -- AP
Insurgents attacked three U.S. military convoys here Wednesday with rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs, killing three Iraqi civilians and wounding five Americans, the U.S. military and hospital officials said.

The attacks occurred in a city long considered relatively safe for U.S. troops, compared to Baghdad and the cities and towns in the volatile ``Sunni Triangle'' to the south.

Elsewhere, paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division captured two former Iraqi Army generals in an early morning raid Wednesday in Fallujah, the military said. The generals were not identified but the military said they were suspected of being ``key financiers'' and organizers of anti-coalition fighters near the volatile city 40 miles west of Baghdad.

On Sunday, guerrillas near Fallujah shot down a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter, killing 15 soldiers in the bloodiest single strike against American forces since the war began March 20.

No American soldiers were reported killed Wednesday by hostile fire. But one 1st Armored Division soldier died of wounds from a ``non-hostile gunshot'' at a checkpoint in Baghdad, the military said.

In Baghdad, the new head of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, Jalal Talabani, announced he would visit Turkey on Nov. 19 to improve relations with Iraq's northern neighbor. He said he will also visit Iran and Syria during the tour.
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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan