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May 4, 3:47 PM EDT
4 U.S. Troops Die in Iraq Humvee Accident
（米兵４人、イラクでハンビーの事故にて死亡）
By JASON KEYSER
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Shiite militiamen fired mortars at a U.S. base in Najaf and bombarded a municipal hall in a nearby city Tuesday, as U.S.-led forces sought to resolve the standoff with militants south of the capital.
North of Baghdad, four U.S. soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division were killed after their Humvee overturned during a combat patrol north of Baghdad, the Army said.
Sporadic overnight mortar attacks on the U.S. base in Najaf followed intense fighting Monday between American forces and militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. As many as 20 Iraqis were killed Monday. No coalition troops died.
The U.S. military moved soldiers into the base last month after Spanish peacekeepers withdrew from Iraq.
Al-Sadr's forces, which launched an uprising in April, have stepped up attacks in recent days. Their assaults seem aimed either to pressure U.S. officials to negotiate an end to the standoff or to goad troops into a heavy retaliation that would inflame Shiites.
The military has been wary of sparking broader fighting. Al-Sadr's office is near Iraq's holiest Shiite shrine.
Militants in Karbala shelled the city hall and police headquarters before daybreak. Both are guarded by Bulgarian soldiers; no casualties were reported.
Near the northern city of Mosul, insurgents blasted a convoy of American soldiers with a homemade bomb, sending up shrapnel that slightly wounded three soldiers. Troops shot and killed two men who set off the bomb, the military said.
A new Iraqi military force was patrolling Fallujah, taking over for Marines pulling back from the city, where U.S. forces have been battling Sunni insurgents.
A senior Marine officer said the new Iraqi force, which was swiftly formed with U.S. backing and will eventually number up to 1,100 troops, is "meeting expectations" in bringing calm.
A nearly monthlong siege left 10 Marines and several hundred Iraqis dead in the city west of Baghdad.
Col. John Coleman, chief of staff for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said "there is a percentage of (the city) where normalcy has returned."
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Abdul-Latif, who opposed former dictator Saddam Hussein, was preparing to take over as head of the new force, subject to a final background check.
The U.S. move to have Abdul-Latif lead the Fallujah Brigade came amid complaints from some Iraqis that Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh, a former member of Saddam's Republican Guard, may have been involved in past repression by the ousted regime.
Hoshyar Zibari, Iraq's Kurdish foreign minister, said there were reports Saleh was involved in crushing the 1991 uprising by Kurds.
"The vetting was imperfect," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon. "There was enough question that the people again on the ground that a different individual, Gen. Latif, would be preferable and less risky."
At a news conference, Abdul-Latif condemned the killing and mutilation of four American contractors in Fallujah on March 31, but said residents shouldn't bear collective blame.
Marines laid siege to the city shortly after the burned bodies were dragged through the street and two corpses strung up from a bridge over the Euphrates River.
"The people of Fallujah should take pride in the fact that that mutilation was condemned from every (mosque) pulpit," Abdul-Latif said. "The people of Fallujah do not share responsibility for this prohibited act."
U.S. officials say the Fallujah Brigade will crack down on die-hard guerrillas even though the force itself will likely include some gunmen who had been involved in battling the Marines.
Meanwhile, officials in Washington said Tuesday an expanded force of troops will stay in Iraq beyond June.
U.S. military commanders will send 10,000 Army and Marine Corps troops for one-year tours, defense officials said.
In addition, the Army planned to announce that about 37,000 National Guard and Reserve troops are getting called to active duty to support three National Guard combat brigades that will be sent to Iraq late this year or early in 2005, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
There are about 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. That number was to have fallen to about 115,000 this spring, but a surge in anti-occupation violence caused Gen. John Abizaid, the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, to bolster the force.
The latest change of plans would leave the total at about 125,000 to 128,000 after June.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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