Naseer Al-Nahr, Asharq Al-Awsat

BAGHDAD, 16 September 2003 — A US soldier and an Iraqi police commander were killed in separate attacks as violence continued during US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to the country.

The police chief of Khaldiyah town, Col. Khdayyir Ali Mukhlif, was killed when three men opened fire at his car. “Around 2:00 p.m. (1000 GMT) three unknown assailants opened fire on the car in which the police chief was coming back to Khaldiyah from Fallujah,” Lt. Col. Jalal Sabri, in charge of police patrols in Fallujah, said.

He said two sergeants — Rabih Kannan and Fuad Fadel — who were traveling with Mukhlif were seriously wounded after another three men opened fire from a white pick-up truck. Khaldiyah is 30 km west of the flashpoint town of Fallujah.

On Saturday the US military issued an apology after 10 policemen from Fallujah were killed the previous day when US troops opened fire as the policemen were engaged in a high-speed car chase.

The US soldier was killed when his unit on patrol in Baghdad was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade. Specialist Anthony Reinoso said the soldier from the 1st Armored Division was fatally wounded in the attack at 1:10 a.m. (2110 GMT Sunday).

“He was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital where he subsequently died,” Reinoso said.

He added that the name of the soldier had been withheld pending notification of his family.

The soldier’s death came amid a report that an Iraqi civilian, Sami Hassan Saref, had died after being shot by US forces who were attempting to enter his house.

Ahmad Mansur Karim, a shopkeeper in Mikdadya, 45 km (27 miles) west of Baquba, said US troops were conducting an operation and had begun to search Saref’s house at about 1:30 a.m. But Karim, 37, said Saref mistook the US troops for thieves, pulled out a rifle and was shot.

He said US troops immediately took 35-year-old Saref to hospital near Baquba, 66 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, where he later died from his wounds.

The latest attack takes to 76 the number of US troops killed in action since May 1, when US President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations.

Powell yesterday visited a mass grave at Halabja, the scene of a 1988 gas attack by Iraqi military on the Kurdish population. He said that the killings showed the world should have acted sooner against Saddam Hussein.

Powell and leaders of Washington’s Kurdish allies lit candles at a memorial for the 5,000 victims whose fate the United States often cited as proof of their accusation Saddam was involved in developing weapons of mass destruction.

Powell heard high praise from Kurds in the northern town where US occupiers enjoy sympathy denied them in Sunni areas to the south.

Powell later said in Kuwait that the United States would continue talks with Ankara on sending Turkish troops to Iraq despite “serious sensitivities” from the Iraqi side.