Iraqi insurgents bombard Baghdad prison, killing 22, wounding 92
By LOUIS MEIXLER
The Associated Press
4/20/04 4:02 PM
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Guerrillas fired a barrage of mortar rounds at Baghdad's largest prison Tuesday, killing 22 prisoners in an attack a U.S. general said may have been an attempt to spark an uprising against their American guards.
A U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul, the 100th American combat death in April, the deadliest month since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.
Ninety-two prisoners were wounded in the mortar attack on the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison, 25 of them seriously, said Col. Jill Morgenthaler, a U.S. military spokeswoman.
"This isn't the first time that we have seen this kind of attack. We don't know if they are trying to inspire an uprising or a prison break," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told The Associated Press.
All of the casualties were security detainees, meaning they were suspected of involvement in the anti-U.S. insurgency or of being part of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime. The prison houses some 5,000 security prisoners.
U.S. Marines patrolling Baghdad discovered the area the mortars were fired from, but the insurgents had fled, Morgenthaler said.
The attack was the bloodiest against the sprawling prison complex in western Baghdad. In August, six security prisoners were killed in a mortar attack on the lockup, which was once Saddam's most notorious prison.
In addition to the 100th American killed, four U.S. soldiers were wounded in the roadside bombing in Mosul, Lt. Col. Joseph Piek said. Three Iraqi civilians also died, he said.
At least 1,100 Iraqis have been killed in fighting since the start of the month, according to an AP count based on reports from hospitals and both Iraqi and U.S. officials.
Also Tuesday, Iraqi security forces, some wearing flak jackets and carrying weapons, moved back into the besieged city of Fallujah, part of an agreement between U.S. officials and local leaders aimed at ending hostilities. The accord calls on insurgents to hand in their weapons and allows civilians to return.
U.S. officials have warned that if guerrillas do not surrender their weapons, Marines are prepared to storm the city.
"If the peaceful track does not play itself out ... major hostilities will resume on short notice," U.S. spokesman Dan Senor said.
Announcements on U.S. military-run radio broadcast into the city called on residents to turn in machine guns, grenade launchers, missiles and other heavy weapons to Iraqi security forces or at the mayor's office.
Senor would not comment on whether any guerrillas had turned in weapons, but cautioned that "time is running out."
Marines were under orders not to fire on Iraqis carrying weapons but not aiming them in case they were heading to turn them in. Until now, Marines could shoot at anyone with a weapon or wearing the black uniform typically worn by insurgents, said Capt. Shannon Johnson.
One group of men was seen "actively brandishing" and loading rocket-propelled grenade launchers Tuesday, Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Bryne said. Troops hit the group with mortars, killing eight and destroying three vehicles, he said.
Fallujah was largely peaceful Tuesday, and there were cars filled with returning Iraqi police at a U.S. checkpoint.
Iraqi families also lined up at the checkpoint. As part of a deal announced Monday, the U.S. military agreed to let 50 families a day back into the city, but the lines at the checkpoint were so long Tuesday that some 150 people had to be turned away, said Capt. Ed Sullivan.
Kimmitt acknowledged Tuesday that U.S. soldiers shot and killed two Iraqis working for the U.S. funded Al-Iraqiya television station a day earlier, but said the two had been filming a military checkpoint in the central city of Samarra and failed to stop despite repeated warning shots.
Cameraman Jassem Kamel, who was wounded, said the U.S. soldiers opened fire after the group finished filming police and security posts and were driving to film the city's spiral minaret.
"We were not filming. We were just driving in a normal car," Kamel said.
Kimmitt said U.S. forces fired warning shots three times.
"After more warning shots, the vehicle didn't stop and continued to approach the base's gate and were engaged with direct fire," he said.
The deaths raise to 26 the number of Iraqi and foreign journalists and employees for news organizations killed in Iraq in the past year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, visited soldiers outside Najaf on Tuesday and indicated there were no immediate plans to storm the southern city and end a standoff with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who controls a large militia. Najaf is home to Iraq's holiest Shiite shrine.
"The issue of Sadr is bigger than Sadr. It's about the Shiites and the holy shrines. That's the challenge I have," Sanchez said.
Also Tuesday, U.S. and coalition military leaders were working to fill the gap left by the decision of Spain and Honduras to withdraw their troops. Kimmitt said existing troops could be shifted to new positions, patrol areas could be redrawn or new troops could be brought in.
Spanish and Honduran troops are mostly based in or around Najaf.
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Associated Press reporters Lourdes Navarro and Jason Keyser contributed to this story from Fallujah.
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