The United States on Wednesday faced one of its most deadly days in Iraq since the start of the war when a massive roadside bomb killed 14 marines in an insurgent stronghold close to the Syrian border and news emerged of the murder of a US journalist in Basra.
The dead soldiers were members of the 3rd battalion, 25th marines based in Cleveland, Ohio, who were travelling on a road south of Haditha when the device was detonated. Their civilian translator was also killed.
It was the second deadly attack on the battalion in the space of three days after six Ohio reservists on sniper duty were killed in a gun battle with insurgents near the same town on Monday. The latest casualties mean 43 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the last 10 days.
The Pentagon denied a claim by the Army of Ansar al-Sunna that it had captured and was holding an injured marine following Monday’s ambush. However, military officials did say the body of one marine from the sniper team had initially been unaccounted for but was later recovered about five kilometres away from those of his dead colleagues, leading to speculation he may have briefly fallen into the hands of insurgents.
The Sunni Arab insurgent group posted a statement on its website in which it claimed to be still holding a US soldier. It also posted a graphic photograph of a badly injured man in what looked like military fatigues. It was not clear from the picture whether he was alive or dead.
In Washington a defence department spokesperson told reporters: ”I have no indication that there are any unaccounted-for personnel.”
Following Monday’s attack, residents of Haditha said several masked gunmen identifying themselves as the Army of Ansar al-Sunna appeared in the public market carrying helmets, flak jackets and automatic rifles they said belonged to US troops.
They distributed flyers claiming to have killed 10 American service members. ”They were on a mountain near the town so we went up, surrounded them and asked them to surrender,” the statement said. ”They did not surrender so we killed them.”
US forces have launched two big offensives around Haditha since May to try to crush insurgents and stem the flow of foreign fighters believed to be crossing the border from Syria.
Wednesday’s attack was the deadliest roadside bombing against US forces since the start of the war.
Senior commanders in Iraq have expressed concern in recent months that insurgents have been making deadlier bombs, including ”shaped charges” — explosives which direct the force of their blast in a concentrated direction to penetrate armour. On several occasions this year, entire crews of armoured vehicles have been killed by roadside bombs, concealed in everything from drinks cans to dead animals.
Meanwhile, US embassy officials were still trying to piece together the events surrounding the murder of Steven Vincent, a freelance journalist and art critic from New York, in Basra on Tuesday.
Witnesses said Vincent and his translator were kidnapped by gunmen shortly after leaving a hotel in Iraq’s second city in the early evening. His body was found later that night by the side of a road, after he was apparently shot repeatedly in the chest.
His Iraqi translator, Nouriya Ita’is, was shot four times but survived.
There was speculation on Wednesday that Vincent was the victim of a targeted killing, either because of his close relationship with his translator or because of an opinion piece in the New York Times.
The article focused on Islamic extremism within the Basra police force, and quoted an unidentified Iraqi police lieutenant as saying that some police were behind many of the assassinations that have taken place in Basra.
The piece was critical of British tactics, particularly the failure of the authorities to root out extremism.
Basra is regarded by reporters as one of the safer places to work. However, Vincent apparently eschewed the normal security precautions and would ride around in a taxi or go on foot.
At least 49 journalists have been killed since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Vincent kept a blog from Basra at Spencepublishing.typepad.com/in_the_red_zone/ – Guardian Unlimited Â