| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| 3 Marines killed, 3 Turks released |
| 2004-06-29 |
| A roadside bomb blast killed three U.S. marines in Baghdad on Tuesday in the first reported fatal attack on U.S. forces in Iraq since the formal handover of sovereignty to an interim government. A U.S. military spokesman said two marines were also wounded in the explosion that wrecked a Humvee vehicle escorting a convoy carrying engineering equipment. "I don’t know why the terrorists want to kill us. We just want to help Iraqis," said a marine at the scene. An Arabic television station aired a video tape on Monday showing what militants said was the execution of a U.S. soldier. While uncertainty shrouded his fate, three Turkish hostages walked free after their release by a group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a suspected al Qaeda ally. His group had previously threatened to behead the Turks on Tuesday unless their government told companies to stop dealing with U.S. forces in Iraq. Ankara had rejected the demand. "Jama’at al-Tawhid and Jihad announces the release of the Turkish hostages for the sake of Muslims in Turkey and their demonstrations against (U.S. President George W.) Bush," a masked man said on a video tape aired by Arabic Al Jazeera TV. A three-day visit by Bush to Turkey for a NATO summit has been met by widespread protests against his policies in Iraq. A Turkish government official confirmed the three men had been freed. Another two Turks seized in Iraq three weeks ago have told their families they are well and will return to Turkey within a week, Turkish media reported. Kidnap groups have also threatened to kill a U.S. marine and a Pakistani. The Pakistani’s captors said on Sunday he would be beheaded within three days unless Iraqi prisoners were released. Hostage-taking and violence are among the challenges facing the interim government sworn in on Monday after the U.S.-British occupation formally ended, two days earlier than planned. Iraq’s independent Al Mada newspaper said only time would tell how much freedom Iraqis would have to manage their affairs. "It was a celebration with no marches, not one shot fired in joy, and in the streets everything remained as it was, with American patrols, Iraqi police checkpoints. Even the terrorist gangs that had warned Iraqis of hell carried out ordinary operations -- an explosion here and there and some shells at the Green Zone," it said in a front-page editorial. Outside Iraq the handover helped drive world oil prices to their lowest level in more than two months on traders’ hopes of less sabotage and steadier exports. The benchmark Brent crude was down 50 cents at $33.20 a barrel in early trading. But there was anguish for the family of the man identified on the video footage shown on Al Jazeera television as Private Keith Maupin, 20, a U.S. soldier seized by guerrillas in April. A gunman could be seen firing one shot at the soldier, wearing greenish overalls and seen only from the back. The body collapsed into a hole. U.S. defense officials said Maupin’s family had been told of the video, but that there was no confirmation that Maupin, from Batavia, Ohio, was the man killed. The family began a vigil on Monday and prayed for the soldier’s safe return. Al Jazeera quoted a statement from a previously unheard of group as saying the soldier was killed because of U.S. policy in Iraq and in revenge for what it described as their martyrs in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. The group was identified as the Implacable Power Against the Enemy of God and the Prophet. The marine, Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, is held by a group calling itself the Islamic Response Movement. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #5 Prolly a young lad (PFC) who hasn't been in country long. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-06-29 7:07:20 PM |
| #4 He'd better. Or he won't get much older. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-06-29 1:36:41 PM |
| #3 Sounds like he's young, innocent and idealist. He'll get over it. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-06-29 12:39:21 PM |
| #2 I read that quote and sat dumbstruck for a second. |
| Posted by: Damn_Proud_American 2004-06-29 11:12:49 AM |
| #1 "I don’t know why the terrorists want to kill us. We just want to help Iraqis," said a marine at the scene. I hope someone keeps an eye on this individual. Something there just doesn't sound right.. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-06-29 11:01:13 AM |