http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/international/worldspecial/17IRAQ.htmltruck convoy was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades near Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad. The attack, the most serious of the day, killed a soldier and hurt three others. G.I. Killed and 6 Are Wounded in Stepped-Up Attacks
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
BU GHRAIB, Iraq, July 16 — A flurry of attacks on the anniversary of Saddam Hussein's seizure of power in 1979 killed one American soldier and wounded at least six others around Baghdad today.
Insurgents also unsuccessfully fired a surface-to-air missile at a C-130 cargo aircraft landing at the International Airport this morning, the second such attack in 10 days.
In another attack, suspected loyalists of Mr. Hussein assassinated the American-backed mayor of Haditha, who was gunned down at 2:30 p.m., a military spokesman said. "He and one of his sons were both murdered," Capt. Jeff Fitzgibbons, a military spokesman in Baghdad, said. "We don't know who did it."
According to Al Jazeera, the Arab television network, the mayor, Muhammad Nayel al-Jughaify, was shot as he was driving from his office to his home, and his car caught fire after the attack. The network described the mayor as having been "accused of cooperating" with American forces by people in Haditha, in western Iraq, and said pamphlets had been distributed this morning cautioning residents to steer clear of American troops and anyone assisting them.
Military officials said the missile attack occurred at 8:45 this morning, but had few other details. The earlier missile attack, which had not been previously disclosed, occurred as another C-130 was landing at the airport this month. It happened "almost exactly the same" as today's attack, Captain Fitzgibbons said.
In the previous attack, he said, two missiles were fired, but neither hit.<snip>
According to preliminary figures that are being reviewed by the Pentagon, 150 American troops have now been killed in hostile attacks in this war, surpassing the 148 killed by the enemy in the 1991 Persian Gulf war.Shortly after the attack in Abu Ghraib, two soldiers were seriously wounded and their vehicle was demolished in Saidiya, in the southern part of Baghdad, apparently by a land mine, as they drove on a patch of land near a highway interchange. In another attack, an American soldier from the First Armored Division was wounded when an attacker hurled an improvised explosive or a grenade at soldiers in the upscale Mansour district of Baghdad. The attack occurred about 12:45 p.m., Captain Fitzgibbons said.
In addition to the deaths from attacks, a marine from the First Marine Expeditionary Force was killed on Tuesday when he fell off the roof of a building he was guarding in Hilla, a large city south of Baghdad.
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