3 Killed, Including State Department Employee, Near Falluja

Guerrillas near Falluja targeted an American convoy with a roadside bomb late Monday, killing 3 and wounding 2. One of those killed was State Department employee Terrence Barnich.

Strongly Sunni Arab al-Anbar Province was the most violent place in Iraq three years ago, and still witnesses guerrilla activity against US and Iraqi government targets.

The British are now out of Iraq. This withdrawal leaves the US as the only country with substantial numbers of combat troops operating in Iraq.

Gen. Casey says that the US military is ready to remain in Iraq another 10 years as a fighting force. The fact is that some US forces, including especially the Air Force, may well be in Iraq that long. But I don't think the Iraqis will put up with large infantry units patrolling their cities that long.

McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Tuesday:

' Kirkuk

Six gunmen raided a house in al Jawala village to the southwest of Kirkuk City. They killed the father, Ali Ahmed Hussein and his two sons, Salah and Hussein. According to eyewitnesses they strolled around the village freely and threatened the same fate to any who cooperates with the government, said Chief of Districts Police in Kirkuk.

A roadside bomb targeted a pick up truck carrying two officers, members of a military inspection committee from the Iraqi Ministry of Defence and their driver in southern Kirkuk Tuesday. All three were severely injured and were taken to hospital for treatment.

Gunmen opened fire and killed a civilian in al Uruba neighbourhood in Kirkuk City Late Monday. Husham Abdullah Nejim was standing in front of his house watering the plants when he was shot.

Anbar

A high rank American official was killed with two other employees of the American Embassy in Baghdad by a roadside bomb in Fallujah on Monday afternoon, statement by Ambassador Christopher R. Hill on the Death of Embassy Baghdad Employees said confirming the incident which took place in Fallujah yesterday with no information about casualties at that time.

Baghdad

- Around 3 p.m. a car bomb detonated in Mahmoudiyah town (south of Baghdad) on Tuesday. Three people were wounded.

- Around 9 p.m. a mortar round hit Al-Fidheiliya neighborhood in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday. Eight people were wounded.'

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