En intussen in Bagdad

[Hein van Meeteren]

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Many casualties in attack on Iraqi forces HQ
by
Tuesday 19 October 2004 11:46 AM GMT


The Iraqi National Guard has been a target of armed fighters

A mortar attack on an Iraqi National Guard headquarters north of Baghdad has
killed four soldiers and wounded scores more.


An Iraqi defence ministry statement said the attack occurred in the morning
at Tarmiya, about 25km north of Baghdad.

Earlier reports said six mortar rounds were fired at the offices.

"Four Iraqi National Guards were killed and up to 80 wounded in a mortar
attack on an Iraqi National Guard base," a US military spokeswoman said.

The Iraqi National Guard has been a target of armed groups trying to
undermine US-led security efforts in advance of November national elections.

US contractor killed

In central Baghdad, one US contractor was killed and seven people wounded,
including an American soldier, in an attack on a US army compound on
Tuesday, a military spokesman said.


Oil pipelines are often sabotaged

"We had mortar and RPG (rocket propelled grenade) fire that hit inside our
compound this morning," the spokesman said.

The US soldier and one of the six Iraqi civilians injured were in a serious
but stable condition, he said.

The Iraqi nationals had all been working in the compound.

In Ramadi, US troops clashed with fighters in the city's centre, with fierce
fighting taking place near the City Hall, witnesses said on Tuesday.

Pipeline damage

A Humvee was damaged when it was hit by a homemade bomb and rocket fire,
according to witness Hatif Mahmud. It was uncertain whether there were any
US casualties.

In northern Iraq, saboteurs attacked and set on fire a key oil pipeline that
connects the Beiji oil refinery with Turkey, police said on Tuesday.

The pipeline was hit with explosives late on Monday, Aljazeera has learned.
The pipeline transfers crude oil to the Turkish Jihan field.

Charity head abducted

Care International charity said its head of operations in Iraq had been
abducted in Baghdad.

A spokeswoman said that Margaret Hasan, who has been working for the charity
in Iraq for more than a decade, was taken on Tuesday morning, but could give
no further details.

"We do want to stress that she is an Iraqi national, not a Briton. She has
been living there for many years," the spokeswoman said.

Care International is one of the world's largest independent global relief
and development organisations. It operates in more than 72 countries in
Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and eastern Europe.

Hasan, who has lived in Iraq for about 30 years, has been working for the
charity since it started operations there in the early 1990s.




[img]http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/rdonlyres/54BD005A-E7BB-48A9-BA4D-3F3D4765FDB3/52252/E6A040F33F834540B27833EBA54A421D.jpg[/img]

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