Iraqi insurgents kill US soldier in Baghdad

Iraqi guerrillas killed a United States soldier in an ambush in Baghdad, the US military said today, as two assassinations underlined fears that internal political divisions could erupt into widespread bloodletting.

The soldier's death was the first combat fatality suffered by US troops since the announcement on Sunday of the capture of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In a further example of the violence that has gripped Iraq since Saddam's capture, an official of the largest Shi'ite Muslim group was killed by Saddam loyalists early today (NZ time).

A representative of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said Muhannad al-Hakim was shot dead near his home in Baghdad's Amil district, after receiving death threats from Saddam backers.

The SCIRI official added that in a separate incident an angry crowd in the southern city of Najaf had attacked and killed Ali al-Zalimi, an official of Saddam's Ba'ath party who had played a role in crushing an uprising by Iraqi Shi'ites after the 1991 Gulf War.

"What happened was that people surrounded him with guns, and proceeded to shoot and beat him," the official said, identifying the killers only as "residents of Najaf who recognised this criminal".

Political violence has flared among Iraq's Shi'ites, who make up 60 percent of the population, since the fall of Saddam, whose government killed numerous religious leaders of the community he regarded as a fifth column with ties to Shi'ite Iran.

SCIRI's leader, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, was killed along with about 80 others in August when a car bomb ripped through one of Shi'ism's holiest shrines, where Hakim had just led worshippers in prayer.

A US spokeswoman said a soldier from the 1st Armoured Division died in an ambush in the al-Karradah neighbourhood of Baghdad at 10.30pm on Wednesday (8.30am Thursday NZT). Another soldier and an Iraqi translator were wounded.

The latest fatality brought to 199 the number of soldiers killed in Iraq by hostile fire since Washington declared major combat over on May 1.

Earlier in the day US forces swept into the town of Samarra, in the so-called "Sunni triangle" in northern and central Iraq where Saddam had his power base, to flush out guerrillas.

Two brigades ringed Samarra, some 100km north of Baghdad, cutting it off from the outside world while soldiers from a third brigade made house-to-house searches. They also scoured shops and junk yards.

US forces said they arrested 12 more people in Samarra after netting 73 suspects on Tuesday. They also detained three suspects in Baquba, some 65km north of Baghdad.

The US military said three attackers were killed on Wednesday when they tried to mount a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Mosul. A fourth attacker was wounded.

The military said it had stepped up an offensive to stamp out attacks on US-led occupying forces and Iraqis cooperating with the United States. It blames the attacks on Saddam supporters and foreign Islamic militants.

The US-appointed Governing Council dismissed reports that Saddam, captured by US troops on Saturday at a 'spiderhole' hideout in northern Iraq after eight months on the run, had been moved to the Gulf state of Qatar by US forces.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq