Some Good News....

[MKSheppard]

TIKRIT, Iraq, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Iraqi troops ambushed and killed three Iraqi guerrillas laying explosive devices of a roadside northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Lieutenant Colonel William MacDonald, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division, said the gunmen were digging holes to plant explosives on a roadside southeast of the town of Baquba, 50 km (32 miles) northeast of the capital, when soldiers fired from small arms and a tank on Wednesday night, killing all three.

"(The U.S. soldiers) were on a mission to conduct an ambush at the site because there had been many incidents (of explosives being laid) in the area," MacDonald told reporters in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the division's headquarters.

Guerrillas, using mainly grenades and roadside bombs, have killed 67 American soldiers in Iraq since Washington declared an end to major combat on May 1, three weeks after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam.

[Vympel]

TIKRIT, Iraq, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Iraqi troops ambushed and killed three Iraqi guerrillas laying explosive devices of a roadside northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Lieutenant Colonel William MacDonald, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division, said the gunmen were digging holes to plant explosives on a roadside southeast of the town of Baquba, 50 km (32 miles) northeast of the capital, when soldiers fired from small arms and a tank on Wednesday night, killing all three.

"(The U.S. soldiers) were on a mission to conduct an ambush at the site because there had been many incidents (of explosives being laid) in the area," MacDonald told reporters in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the division's headquarters.

Guerrillas, using mainly grenades and roadside bombs, have killed 67 American soldiers in Iraq since Washington declared an end to major combat on May 1, three weeks after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam.

They'll need many more men on patrol duty along the major IED routes to deal with the problem- far more than they have. These IEDs will remain a hazard until the stocks of old artillery shells run out, or all the resistance forces give up. Which is a pretty damn long time, of course.