BAGHDAD — Rogue Iraqi elements have killed a British journalist and attacked a United Nations compound, raising fears that Iraqi insurgents are widening their targets from coalition troops to Westerners in general.
With three more United States soldiers killed in separate incidents over the past two days, some US military officials are worried that such attacks on foreigners will hamper news gathering and humanitarian efforts.
British journalist Richard Wild, who arrived in the country two weeks ago to be a war correspondent, showed no outward signs of being a reporter.
Around midday on Saturday, he was killed by a single pistol shot fired into the base of his skull at close range, colleagues said.
On the same day, insurgents also fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the UN's International Organisation for Migration office in Mosul, 386km north-west of Baghdad.
The recent attacks on foreigners in Iraq came as American soldiers suffered more deaths within their ranks at the hands of guerilla Iraqi elements.
Early yesterday, insurgents threw a homemade bomb at a US convoy in northern Baghdad, killing a soldier, said military spokesman Patrick Compton.
Late on Sunday, two assailants fired on another US military convoy, killing a soldier.
In a third incident, a gunman shot and killed a US soldier waiting to buy a soft drink at the Baghdad University at midday on Sunday, firing once into his head at close range.
The style was similar to the killing of Mr Wild.
In a similar incident, an assailant with a pistol shot and injured a US soldier critically in the neck on June 27 as he shopped on a Baghdad street.
US troops patrolling the capital and other areas have been attacked several times a day. Iraqi police and civilians perceived to be working with the occupying forces have also been targeted.
In the most serious attack, a bomb went off in the western town of Ramadi on Saturday.
The blast killed seven Iraqi police recruits as they graduated from a US-taught training course. Dozens more were injured.
US Army Major William Thurmond said it was too early to tell whether a pattern was emerging that would suggest that insurgents were targeting foreign civilians.
However, he said such a strategy could thwart news gathering and humanitarian relief efforts.
'Hopefully, they're isolated events and we won't have to face them in the future,' he said.
'It might work to the advantage of someone who's trying to fight the coalition.'
He said there was no place for such attacks in 'any civilised part of the world'.
'As soon as we get hold of them, they're gone. We'll find them. We'll attack them. And if necessary, we'll kill them.'
straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,198559,00.htmlE-mail this article