U.S. soldiers arrested nearly 50 people and confiscated weapons in several raids in Iraq's volatile Sunni Triangle after a series of bombings that killed six U.S. soldiers. A U.S. soldier died Sunday of wounds suffered in a grenade attack on his Bradley vehicle that was patrolling a central Iraqi town of Beiji the day before, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division. Five other U.S. soldiers were killed in separate bombings and a blast that narrowly missed an American convoy killed four Iraqis and wounded about 40 others in a bloody day of attacks on Saturday. On Sunday, U.S. soldiers raided several locations in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital, and captured 46 people including three men suspected of involvement in anti-coalition activities, Aberle said. The remaining 43 were detained for possessing weapons without authorization. In Mukayshifa, a town south of Tikrit, soldiers raided a house Saturday and confiscated 220 hand grenades, Aberle said.
"You guys won't be needing these anymore!"
"Plenty more where those came from, infidel!"
"But you ain't gonna be the one tossing them!"
"I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!" |
Insurgents fired the rocket propelled grenade at the Bradley in the town of Beiji, north of Tikrit, late Saturday, piercing the driver's compartment and critically wounding the soldier. The soldier was evacuated to a military hospital, where he died. A second Bradley fighting vehicle returned fire toward the area from where the grenade was launched, and soldiers later captured six men who were in the possession of a grenade launcher, Aberle said. |