Roadside bomb, snipers hit convoy, but no soldiers are injured

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Roadside bomb, snipers hit convoy, but no soldiers are injured
By Michael Gisick, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, May 17, 2008

BAGHDAD — A small American convoy was hit with a roadside bomb and ambushed from rooftops for nearly an hour Thursday less than 300 meters from a heavily defended U.S. base in eastern Baghdad. None of the American soldiers was injured in the attack. They reported killing seven attackers.

The attack was unusual both for its determined nature and its proximity to a U.S. base, and came as further indication that significant numbers of Shiite militiamen are paying little heed to a nearly week-old cease fire.

"Those guys were weren’t running away," said Army Lt. Sebastian Salas, 26, of New Palz, N.Y., who leads the platoon that was hit Thursday.

Clashes have also continued elsewhere in and near Sadr City since a cease-fire was announced Monday between the Iraqi government and clerics loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. The cease-fire was aimed at ending six weeks of fighting in the sprawling Shiite slum.

Salas’ platoon, part of Company C, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, was on its second trip from Forward Operating Base Rustimayah to help remove debris from a destroyed observation tower when it was hit at about 11 a.m., Salas said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54858