| 76 U.S. Troops Killed
this month
U.S. troops suffer record losses
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Police will return to their posts in the holy
city of Najaf after reaching an agreement with the militia of radical Shiite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the city's police chief and an al-Sadr spokesman
said Monday.
But a coalition source close to the situation told CNN that police have
successfully negotiated the return of only three of their stations in the
south-central Iraqi city.
Al-Sadr's armed Mehdi Army militia-men continue to patrol the streets,
according to the source.
Meanwhile, new U.S. military figures released Monday showed April to
be the deadliest month ever for American soldiers engaging in hostile action
in Iraq since the war began a year ago.
At least 76 American troops have died in hostile action this month in
Iraq, according to the U.S. military.
There was no word Monday on the status of kidnapped American contractor
Thomas Hamill, who was snatched Friday by insurgents and videotaped by
the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Seven of Hamill's colleagues at Kellogg, Brown & Root -- an American
construction and engineering company -- are unaccounted for in Iraq, Lt.
Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top But seven Chinese hostages who were captured in Iraq Sunday night were
released late Monday, the official Xinhua news agency reported from Beijing.
Agreement in dispute
The reported agreement in Najaf between coalition forces and militia
loyal to al-Sadr was disputed Monday by a coalition source close to the
situation.
Just before police and an al-Sadr spokesman were announcing their agreement,
militia fired mortar rounds at the coalition compound in Najaf, the source
said.
The city of Kufa is also still under Sadr's control, Iraqi sources said.
"If the coalition forces pull out of Najaf, then we will help the local
security and let them perform their duties," said Qais Al-Khazaaly, a spokesman
for al-Sadr.
Ali Hadi, police chief of Najaf, said police would be "back at their
posts to enforce law and order" and that al-Sadr's Mehdi Army would pull
out of police stations and government buildings.
The battle with al-Sadr's forces began earlier this month after the
coalition shut down his newspaper, Al Hawza, for allegedly inciting violence
and then arresting an aide on charges of complicity in the murder last
year of another Shiite cleric.
An Iraqi judge has also issued a warrant for al-Sadr's arrest, and the
top U.S. general in the region said that whatever happens to him is up
to the Iraqis.
Death toll increases
Although U.S. military figures showed April to be the deadliest month
of the war in hostile incidents -- 76 -- more U.S. troops died in November
-- 81. Twelve of the November deaths were non-hostile incidents.
Twenty-six of the 76 troops killed in April died between Friday and
Sunday, the military said.
Thirteen of the 26 dead American soldiers were killed Friday, the coalition
said. Four servicemen died Saturday and another nine died Sunday, the U.S.
military said.
Those deaths include three Marines who were killed in fighting west
of Baghdad on Sunday and two U.S. Army pilots whose Apache helicopter was
shot down Sunday in the same region, according to the Coalition Public
Information Center.
The new figures bring the number of U.S. troops killed in Operation
Iraqi Freedom to 674 -- 480 hostile and 194 non-hostile, according to the
U.S. military.
President Bush on Monday said the United States must defend ordinary
Iraqis against "gangs that were trying to take the law into their own hands."
"The Iraq people are on the side of the transition to a peaceful country,"
Bush said at a news conference near his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. "We just can't let ... a small percentage
of the Iraqi people decide the fate of everyone."
Company worker kidnapped
A member of the Iraqi Governing Council -- Muhsin Abdul Hameed -- said
Monday that Muslim clerics had issued a religious decree against abductions
and that kidnappers may release their hostages later in the day.
One of the hostages, Hamill, 43, was working as a contractor truck driver
at the time he was abducted.
Kidnappers demanded that U.S. forces withdraw from the Iraqi city of
Fallujah by 10 p.m. Saturday ET, but since then there has been no word
on his fate.
Kidnappers warned that Hamill would "be treated worse than the four
Americans that were killed in Fallujah" -- a reference to the four civilians
whose mutilated bodies were dragged through the city's streets -- if their
demand was not met.
Friends and neighbors of Hamill held a vigil Sunday night in his Mississippi
hometown. (Full story)
The rash of civilian kidnappings continued Sunday night, with the seven
Chinese men abducted by gunmen in central Iraq who were reportedly freed
Monday. (Full story)
A separate deadline for three Japanese hostages also passed with no
word. The kidnappers threatened to burn the Japanese hostages alive Sunday
unless Japan pulls its troops out of Iraq.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has begun a first round of meetings
with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the midst of the crisis
over the Japanese civilians being held hostage in Iraq.
Senior administration officials said Cheney was to use his meeting with
Koizumi to press him to stay the course in Iraq and not bow to the increasing
pressure to bring the troops home. (Full story)
Two Arabs working for aid agencies are also being held by militants,
one a Syrian-born Canadian and the other a resident of Jerusalem.
Militants released British citizen Gary Teeley on Sunday night, and
Al-Jazeera aired video of eight civilians, identified as hostages, being
released, including people from Pakistan, the Philippines, India and Turkey.
However, while a voice on the tape said the eight had worked for coalition
forces and were being set free at the request of Sunni clerics, no government
agencies could confirm that they had actually been taken hostage.
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