64 killed as US forces crack down in Najaf
Spanish troops pull out of Iraqi flashpoint; 1 GI slain; Red Cross meets Saddam
AP, Baghdad
US troops fought militiamen overnight near Najaf, killing 64 gunmen and destroying an anti-aircraft gun. An American soldier was killed yesterday in Baghdad, raising the US death toll for April to 115 the same number lost during the entire invasion of Iraq last year. Also yesterday, a Red Cross team visited Saddam Hussein to see his conditions in US custody, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said, but he refused to say where the visit took place. It was the first since the Red Cross visited the ousted Iraqi leader in February. The battle outside Najaf was one of the heaviest with the militia as US troops try to increase the pressure on gunmen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. US troops moved into a base in Najaf that became vacant after Spanish troops completed their withdrawal from the holly city, ahead of a total pull-out from Iraq, a military spokesman said yesterday The Spanish spokesman, General Jose Manuel Munoz, said the troops had withdrawn to Diwaniyah, headquarters for the 1,432-strong Spanish contingent. Meanwhile, a US helicopter exploded in the southeastern Iraqi city of Kut after an engine problem forced it to make an emergency landing, a US military spokesman said Tuesday. He said there were no casualties in the incident which occured late Monday after an "engine malfunction". The crew was able to get out of the helicopter "with their equipment" before it exploded, he said. As the United Nations prepares to discuss the form of a caretaker government due to take power June 30, US-appointed Iraqi leaders complained that the administration won't have real sovereignty as promised by American administrators for months. The battles in the south Monday evening took place on the east side of the Euphrates River, across from Kufa and Najaf, Kimmitt said. The first came in the afternoon, when Shia militiamen opened fire on a US patrol, and seven insurgents were killed. Hours later, a M1 tank was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, triggering a heavy battle in which warplanes destroyed an anti-aircraft gun belonging to the militia, and 57 gunmen were killed, Kimmitt said. Night video taken by the Associated Press Television News between Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa showed US army helicopters flying low over smoke rising from an area in the distance amid flashes of gunfire. In Fallujah, one Marine was killed Monday, and tank fire toppled the mosque's minaret, which commanders said was being used by gunmen. The violence, in which eight Iraqi insurgents were killed, tested the US decision to continue a political track in resolving the Fallujah standoff. The battle north of Najaf broke out Monday night and lasted several hours, with helicopter gunships called in for support, a military spokesman said.
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