U.S., Iraqi troops kill 30 militants (ONE US soldier killed Wed)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

U.S., Iraqi troops kill 30 militants

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 6 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi troops battled Sunni insurgents hiding in high-rise buildings on Haifa Street in the heart of Baghdad Wednesday, with snipers on roofs taking aim at gunmen in open windows as Apache attack helicopters hovered overhead.

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New details also emerged about the downing of a private U.S. security company helicopter on Tuesday, with U.S. and Iraqi officials saying four of five Americans who died in the incident were shot execution-style. Violence was unrelenting in Iraq on Wednesday, with at least 69 people killed or found dead, including 33 tortured bodies found in separate locations in Baghdad.

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The U.S.-Iraqi force faced fierce resistance from insurgents using hand-grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms from the high-rises, the American military said. The explosions were so loud they could be heard across the capital. Black smoke rose from the area, located on the west bank of the Tigris River about a mile north of the Green Zone, site of the U.S. and British embassies as well as the Iraqi government headquarters.

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The military reported separately that an American soldier was killed Wednesday in clashes near the city's center, but officials declined to give more specifics or say whether the death was connected to the Haifa Street fighting. Two U.S. Marines also were reported killed on Tuesday during combat in Anbar province, the military said.

Accounts like this really should read "killed thirty people." Some may well have been fighters under arms engaged with U.S. soldiers; if the accounts of the event are remotely accurate, that is quite likely. But it is just as likely a portion were simply people unfortunate enough to be in the way, or slow to clear out of or unable to clear out of the battlefield.

I don't believe a word they say anymore.

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