US Iraq death toll hits 1,000, two Italians seized
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-08 13:34

The U.S. military death toll in Iraq reached 1,000 on Tuesday nearly 18 months after the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, making its mark on the U.S. presidential election campaign.

Underlining that much of Iraq remains a dangerous place, two Italian woman aid workers and two Iraqis were kidnapped in broad daylight in central Baghdad in a brazen raid that will alarm foreigners already edgy over widespread kidnappings.

In one of the biggest strikes against guerrillas, the U.S. military said as many as 100 militants had been killed in the volatile town of Falluja, some 30 miles west of Baghdad.

"We remember, honor and mourn the loss of all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan as official figures showed 997 soldiers and three Defense Department workers had died in Iraq.

A car burns in the Sadr City section of Baghdad following clashes between U.S. army and Iraqi Shi'ite militia, September 7, 2004. The U.S. military death toll in Iraq reached 1,000 on Tuesday nearly 18 months after the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, making its mark on the U.S. presidential election campaign. Underlining that much of Iraq remains a dangerous place, two Italian woman aid workers and two Iraqis were kidnapped in broad daylight in central Baghdad in a brazen raid that will alarm foreigners already edgy over widespread kidnappings. [Reuters]

John Kerry, Democratic challenger to President Bush in the U.S. presidential election in November, said: "Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq."

Kerry has tried to make Iraq a major campaign issue. "Of all the wrong choices that President Bush has made, the most catastrophic choice is the mess that he has made in Iraq," Kerry told a town hall meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina.

BUSH HITS BACK

Bush, campaigning in Missouri, hit back: "No matter how many times Senator Kerry flip-flops, we were right to make America safer by removing Saddam Hussein from power."

Simona Pari, a volunteer with the Italian aid organization 'Un Ponte Per Baghdad' (A Bridge for Baghdad) is interviewed in Baghdad, in this television image from Italia 1 'Lucignolo' magazine show, made available Tuesday Sept. 7, 2004. Pari and fellow volunteer Simona Torretta, both 29-years-old, were kidnapped in Baghdad Tuesday according to the organization. [AP]

As well as the 1,000 dead -- three-quarters of them in combat -- nearly 7,000 U.S. troops have been wounded since the U.S-led invasion in March last year.

In the Baghdad kidnapping, 20 men armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols with silencers stopped vehicles in a busy commercial area of the capital and raided a building housing the humanitarian organization Bridge to Baghdad, witnesses said.

They seized Italian woman aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta and the two Iraqis, a male Bridge to Baghdad employee and a woman working for another Italian organization Intersos.

Gunmen dragged the Iraqi woman away by her hair. "She was screaming," said one witness, who declined to be named.

"It appeared it was totally professional. It appeared they knew exactly who they wanted to abduct," said another person, who saw the kidnappings in a side street off a busy square.

Italy has about 2,700 troops, the third largest contingent, serving with U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's pro-U.S. government has refused to bow to guerrilla demands that they should be withdrawn.

Guerrillas kidnapped and killed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni last month. In April, kidnappers killed Italian security guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi.

WELL-DRESSED GUNMEN

Jean-Dominique Bunel, an official from a committee that groups together aid organizations in Iraq, said he saw two well-dressed men with guns enter the Bridge to Baghdad building and take away the hostages.

"The guards were unarmed and they did nothing," he said. "We will all work for their release and have confidence. We have already contacted prominent people, religious authorities."

The Italian women were involved in an initiative designed to boost school attendance in Basra and Baghdad -- including the capital's Sadr City slums, home to millions of Shi'ites.

The bold nature of the abductions raised the stakes in kidnappings that have gripped Iraq since April.

Foreigners from more than two dozen countries have been kidnapped as guerrillas try to force foreign troops and firms to leave Iraq. More than 20 foreign hostages have been killed.

The latest abductions are likely to fuel uncertainty over the fate of two French journalists, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who are still held hostage despite intense diplomatic efforts to free them.

U.S. WARPLANES POUND GUERRILLAS

Witnesses said U.S. warplanes pounded suspected guerrilla positions in Falluja and explosions could be heard as flames engulfed sections of the town, a focus of anti-U.S. sentiment.

"Significant numbers of enemy fighters (up to 100) are estimated to have been killed," said a statement from the U.S. military's Camp Falluja just outside the town.

The statement said the operation was launched after guerrillas fired on Iraqi and U.S.-led multinational forces.

In Baghdad, 24 Iraqi militants and a U.S. soldier were killed in clashes in the Sadr City slums.

One U.S. soldier was killed in the west of the capital and two more in the Baghdad area, the U.S. military said.

Guerrillas ambushed the car of Baghdad's Iraqi governor on Tuesday, opening fire and then detonating a roadside bomb as his convoy drove past. He was unhurt.

Close

Today's Top News     Top World News
Southwest China floods leave at least 143 dead         Funding to ensure pension payments         CPC plenum to focus on ruling capacity         `Super rice' set to increase output         US military deaths in Iraq pass 1,000         Shanghai no longer encourages DINK family	US military deaths in Iraq pass 1,000       Footage shows school siege drama       Cheney: Kerry win risks terror attack       Two Italian women abducted in Iraq       Italia holds crisis meeting against Iraq hostage-taking       Two arrested in Russia plane Crash Case