IRAQ: SEVERAL KILLLED IN CLASHESAccording to the American military,
14 rebel fighters were killed in an exchange of fire against US troops in the northern city of Tal Afar. Insurgents responded by
killing at least 10 Iraqi soldiers in the town of Khales, not far north of the capital.
US Troops from the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment have killed 4 insurgents on Sunday and 10 on Monday, suffering no casualties, as read in the military statement.
The population of Tal Afar is a mix between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, the city lies at the border with Sirya and for this reason is believed to be an important place for infiltrating terrorists in Iraq.
Insurgents have stormed an Iraqi checkpoint in the town of Khales (37ms/60km north of Baghdad) at about 5 a.m. on Monday, killing at least 10 Iraqi soldiers. Rebel fighters were using machine guns and mortars said the local chief of police, Col. Mahdi Saleh.
No longer than a month ago, almost 30 Iraqi soldier have been killed by a suicide bomber who blew himself up in an Iraqi Army hall in Khales.
An hour and an half later not far Khales,
a car bomb exploded as an Iraqi convoy was passing by, killing two Iraqi soldiers. Two other troops and three civilians were injured. The
al Qaeda in Mesopotamia apparently claimed responsibility for the attack in a web site.
Also on Monday, Iraqi security forces were accused of illegally detaining, torturing and murdering 10 Sunni Arabs by the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical organization.
While the government did not comment on the accuse, a doctor from the famous Yarmuk Hospital, speaking in condition of anonymity, has confirmed that he received bodies presenting signs of abuse. The men were apparently visiting relatives in the Shiite neighborhood of Shula.
"The men were taken to a detention center where they were tortured, then locked in a container where they suffocated," the Association of Muslim Scholars referred.
Two US Marines were killed by "indirect fire" in the town of Hit, an insurgent stronghold, on a major road to Damascus. They were part of the Regimental Combat Team 2.
About 60 people were killed in Iraq on Sunday either by ambushes, car bombs or attacks.
CNNThe New York Times
Il Romanaccio at 10:21 AM
