MORE BAD NEWS.

Attackers killed a U.S. soldier in a convoy moving through the capital and a gunman shot an American soldier in the neck as he browsed a Baghdad market Friday, part of a vicious cycle of Iraqi attacks and ever-tougher U.S. crackdowns on resistance.

American forces, meanwhile, accidentally killed an 11-year-old boy in Baghdad.

The past two days have seen a torrent of guerrilla-style ambushes that have killed at least three U.S. soldiers, with a fourth dying in a non-combat accident. Two U.S. soldiers remained missing Friday night, three days after their apparent abduction from a guard post north of the capital.

Late Friday, attackers fired on a U.S. convoy in the Thawra neighborhood of northeast Baghdad, killing an American soldier and wounding four others, said military spokesman Sgt. Patrick Compton. An Iraqi civilian interpreter was also wounded.

Saboteurs also have been attacking Baghdad's power grid and oil pipelines, foiling coalition efforts to restore services to the Iraqi people as temperatures climb as high as 117 degrees.

"These are guys who want us to fail. They'd rather see their country burn than have it succeed," said Maj. Scott Slaten, of the Army's 1st Armored Division.


If you are trying to follow this on a map the Thawra neighborhood is the 72 square block neighborhood formerly known as Saddam City, in Northeast Baghdad just north of the narrow Army Canal. You can find it on the map link at the top of this page.

This area is the responsibility of the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk...but the 2d ACR has been attached to the 1st Brigade...so realistically this is 1st Brigade turf.

Read the whole story here.