Tuesday, 6 April 2004 - 4:19 PM EDT

20 GIs, 100 Iraqis Killed Since Weekend

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By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq - Coalition forces fought on two fronts Tuesday, battling a Shiite-inspired uprising in southern Iraq (news - web sites) and Sunni insurgents in the violent city of Fallujah in clashes that have killed 20 American troops and at least 100 Iraqis since the weekend.

Backers of fiery anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr attacked coalition forces in three cities ? Italians in Nasiriyah, Britons in Amarah and Ukrainians in Kut ? after a weekend of fighting that was especially intense in the poor Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad.

In the latest U.S. deaths, five Marines were killed Monday ? one of them in Fallujah fighting and the others on the western outskirts of Baghdad ? and three U.S. soldiers died in attacks in a Baghdad neighborhood on Monday and Tuesday.

At least two Marines were wounded in Fallujah on Tuesday, as forces fought their way to the center of the city to crush an uprising by insurgents loyal to ousted leader Saddam Hussein. Marines pulled back to the outskirts at nightfall Tuesday.

Wednesday, 7 April 2004 - 3:16 PM EDT

U.S. Hits Mosque Compound; 40 Said Killed
19 minutes ago

By BASSEM MROUE and ABDUL-QADER SAADI, Associated Press Writers

FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. Marines in the third day of a battle to pacify this Sunni Muslim city fired a rocket and dropped a 500-pound, laser-guided bomb on a mosque compound Wednesday, and witnesses said as many as 40 people were killed. Shiite-inspired violence spread to key cities in Iraq.

The fighting in Fallujah and neighboring Ramadi ? just east of Baghdad ? has killed 15 Marines since Monday and was part of an intensified uprising involving other Sunni towns in northern and central Iraq, and Shiite population centers south of the capital.

Marines waged a six-hour battle around the Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque with militants holed up inside before a Cobra helicopter fired a Hellfire missile at the base of its minaret and an F-16 dropped the bomb, said Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne.

The fight began when a Marine vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from the mosque, wounding five Marines, and a large U.S. force converged on it, Byrne said.

Witnesses said the strike came as worshippers had gathered for afternoon prayers.

An Associated Press reporter saw cars ferrying out dead and wounded. Witnesses said part of a wall surrounding the mosque compound was destroyed but the main building was not damaged.

In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told CNN that from photos of the mosque he had seen, "the actual mosque structure itself" was not damaged.

Its minaret was damaged, but still standing, an AP reporter said.

"It is a holy place, there is no doubt about it," Kimmitt added. "It has a special status under the Geneva Convention that it can't be attacked.

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