The New York Times-20080129-5 G-I--s Die In Ambush In Mosul

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5 G.I.'s Die In Ambush In Mosul

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Sunni Arab guerrillas ambushed an American convoy in the northern city of Mosul with a roadside bomb on Monday, then sprayed survivors with machine-gun fire from perches in a nearby mosque, killing five American soldiers.

It was the second devastating attack on United States forces this month, bringing the number of fatalities to 36 this year, and the latest sign that the main front of the insurgency has shifted to northern Iraq.

While American fatalities have fallen sharply in Baghdad and Anbar Province, they have not slowed in the north. Three-fifths of the American servicemen killed this year were in three provinces dominated by Sunni Arabs north of Baghdad.

Three weeks ago, a house rigged with explosives killed six soldiers in Diyala Province.

The attack on Monday underscored the grim situation in Mosul, Iraq's northern hub, which remains a stronghold for Sunni extremist fighters. The Americans fought back and sent Iraqi soldiers to raid the mosque, but the gunmen had already fled, American military officials said.

Under pressure to show firmness against the insurgency that still dominates parts of the north, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki pledged last week to begin a decisive battle against militants in Mosul.

He made that promise after a powerful blast shook the city last Wednesday as Iraqi soldiers entered a building packed with thousands of pounds of explosives. The Iraqi Red Crescent Organization reported that at least 60 people had been killed and 280 wounded, mostly children, women and the elderly.

The attack enraged residents, who were furious at government leaders for failing to protect them. The next morning, when the provincial police chief visited the site of the blast, he was stoned by a crowd of angry people who had been digging bodies of relatives from the rubble. As he tried to leave, he was assassinated by a suicide bomber.

Iraqi officials have said they are massing an unspecified number of troops as well as equipment in Mosul, but they have disclosed little information about what they plan to do. American military officials say they are not expecting significant new operations, but more focused coordination between the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police.

The gunmen who attacked the convoy on Monday had been holed up in the Sunni Yarimjah mosque in southern Mosul, said Maj. Gary Dangerfield, a military spokesman. He said troops were continuing to conduct operations into the night in the surrounding area in pursuit of the guerrillas, who he said have no respect for Islam, for the people of Iraq or for the holy sites in Mosul.

American troops swept into Sumar, a neighborhood of Mosul, on Monday afternoon, raiding and searching homes and engaging militants in gunfights, said Brig. Saeed al-Jibouri, a Mosul police spokesman.

The gunmen in the neighborhood panicked and clashed with the Americans, he said in a telephone interview on Monday evening. Sounds of gunfire can still be heard in the neighborhood, and the area is still surrounded by the American forces.

In Baghdad, a fire believed to have been started by arsonists set offices of the Iraq Central Bank ablaze early Monday morning, torching several floors and destroying documents that American officials said included contracts and records of financial transactions with overseas companies doing business in Iraq.

Iraqi officials told American officials that they regarded the fire as potentially destabilizing to the Iraqi economy. But the Americans expressed less certainty that the fallout would be so dire, though they do not know exactly what was stored in the bank and what might have been taken.

The Iraqi authorities detained 18 people, including some bank employees. It was unclear whether any were suspects in the case. The motive for the fire was not determined, but investigators said they thought the fire was set on purpose on the second floor. The officials said they did not know what was used to start the fire or whether chemicals were used to spread it.

Water from fire hoses flooded vaults filled with cash on the first floor. Fire gutted the second and third floors. A blackened safe was discovered with its back torn open, suggesting the possibility of a robbery, although investigators said they did not know what the safe contained.

Employees arriving for work were kept away from the building. They were told that the blaze had begun very early in the morning. One employee, who identified herself only as Rasha, said employees had been told to report for work on Tuesday.

They said, 'We will prepare another building for you to work in,' she said.

[Illustration]PHOTO: American soldiers carrying a Iraqi security volunteer wounded Monday in a booby-trapped house to a waiting helicopter in Arab Jabour, south of Baghdad. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MAYA ALLERUZZO/ASSOCIATED PRESS)