Two US Soldiers die in Helicopter Crash; Police General Killed

AP reports that two US soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash on Wednesday near Haditha in the Sunni heartland. Guerrillas shot down a police general in the northern city of Mosul, in line with their general attempt to discourage Iraqis from joining or serving in the new American-backed police force.

In Amara, guerillas fired a mortar shell at the local television station, but it landed in a garden outside the station and did no damage to speak of. There have been a number of such attacks on the station in recent weeks (az-Zaman).

AP reports ' And in Baghdad, attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a major Shiite Muslim shrine overnight, officials at the shrine said. The RPG punched a hole in an outer wall of the Kazimiyah shrine in a northern neighborhood of the capital, but caused no injuries. ' The shrine of Imam Musa al-Kazim in Kazimiyah is among the holiest sites for Shiites, and visiting it is part of the Muharram commemorations now beginning in Iraq. This attack would fit with the strategy announced by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of the al-Tawhid terrorist group, of attempting to foment civil war. The emotional impact of this assault on a major shrine at this season cannot be overestimated.