BAGHDAD — Iraqi insurgents detonated a car bomb and then hammered a military headquarters in the city of Samarra with a mortar barrage yesterday, leveling the building and killing five U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi guardsman, the U.S. military said.
American troops — backed by attack helicopters — fanned out through the city to hunt down the attackers in clashes that lasted into the late afternoon. Tanks deployed in the streets.
The violence also killed three civilians, medical officials said. As many as 44 people were wounded, including 20 U.S. soldiers and four Iraqi guardsmen, the military and hospital officials said.
Also yesterday, the Philippines prohibited its citizens from traveling to Iraq to work after militants released a videotape with threats to kill a Philippine hostage if the country did not withdraw its troops.
About 10:30 a.m. yesterday, Iraqi insurgents lashed out at U.S. forces in Samarra, a hotbed of anti-coalition resistance 60 miles north of Baghdad, said Maj. Neal O’Brien, spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division.
One witness, Khalid Salih, said the gate of the headquarters building shared by U.S. forces and their Iraqi national guard allies had been open when a sport utility vehicle rigged with a bomb was driven in.
“I saw a [vehicle] enter the base and immediately explode,” he said.
Insurgents then fired 38 mortar rounds at the headquarters, destroying the building, Maj. O’Brien said. Some of the rounds landed in nearby residential neighborhoods.
About 25 minutes after the mortar attack — once radar determined where it had originated — U.S. soldiers responded with four mortar rounds.
American troops moved through the streets to flush out the insurgents, and four fighters shot at the soldiers before taking refuge in a building, Maj. O’Brien said. U.S. helicopters swooped in and attacked with Hellfire missiles, killing the four attackers.
Americans make up most of the nearly 160,000 foreign troops here, but they have been gradually handing over security responsibilities to Iraqi forces — and working closely with them. Iraqi troops lack the equipment and training to handle the task of crushing the insurgency.
The 51 Philippine troops in Iraq are a fraction of the foreign troops here, but more than 4,000 Philippine civilians serve food, clean toilets and form the backbone of the support staff for American forces.
Word of the capture of a Philippine hostage — and the insurgents’ threat to kill him — heaped pressure on Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who decided yesterday to bar more contract workers from traveling to Iraq.
She announced no decision on whether to extend the deployment of her country’s troops past their scheduled departure date this month.
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