A Tale Of Two Stories

U.S. Warplanes Bomb Two Iraqi Villages
Military Says

Insurgents Killed,

but Witnesses Cite

Civilian Deaths

By THOMAS WAGNER
Link here

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Oct. 17) - U.S. warplanes and helicopters bombed two western villages, killing an estimated 70 militants near a site where five American soldiers died in a weekend roadside blast, the military said Monday. Residents said at least 39 of the dead were civilians.

A sandstorm struck Baghdad on Monday, and that could delay ballot counting and the posting of final results from Saturday's landmark referendum on Iraq's constitution, which seemed to have passed.

Elections officials resumed work in Baghdad, but were still only counting ballots from the capital area. Ballots from the provinces still have to be flown in, but the sandstorm grounded air traffic into Baghdad.

Electricity was back on in many parts of Baghdad, after a weekend of periodic outages, some of which were blamed on insurgent sabotage on power lines on the eve of the vote.

A foreign election observer with access to information on nationwide election returns confirmed that apparent outcome in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity, saying the Iraqi Independent Electoral Commission would announce the official results, which could be released Wednesday.

The acceptance of the constitution would be a major step in setting up a democratic government that could lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Sunday that violence will continue, even if the constitution is adopted. She said support for the insurgency would eventually wane as the country moves toward democracy.

On Saturday, a roadside bomb killed five U.S. soldiers in a vehicle in the Al-Bu Ubaid village on the eastern outskirts of the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi. On Sunday, a group of about two dozen Iraqis gathered around the wreckage; they were hit by U.S. airstrikes, the military and witnesses said.

The military said the crowd was setting another roadside bomb when F-15 warplanes hit them, killing about 20 people it described as "terrorists."

But several residents and one local leader said they were civilians gathering to gawk at and take pieces of the wreckage, as often occurs after an American vehicle is hit.

Tribal leader Chiad Saad said the airstrike killed 25 civilians, and several others said the same thing, although they refused to give their names out of fear for their safety.

The other deaths occurred in the nearby village of Al-Bu Faraj.

The military said a group of gunmen opened fire on a Cobra attack helicopter that spotted their position. The Cobra returned fire, killing about 10. The men ran into a nearby house, where gunmen were seen unloading weapons before an F/A-18 warplane bombed the building, killing 40 insurgents, the military said.

Witnesses said at least 14 of the dead were civilians. After a man was wounded in an airstrike, he was brought into a nearby building that was struck by warplanes, said the witnesses, who refused to give their names out of fear for their safety.

An Iraqi journalist reporting for The Associated Press said he later saw the 14 bodies and the damaged building.

Associated Press Television News video from the scene showed the victims included at least two children and one woman. Witnesses said seven other children were among the dead. APTN also showed two children among the wounded at Ramadi General Hospital.

Few voted in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, during Saturday's referendum -- either out of fear of militants' reprisals or out of rejection of the new constitution.

A U.S. Marine was also killed by a bomb Saturday in Saqlawiyah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. The weekend's U.S. military fatalities brought to at least 1,976 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the war began in 2003, according to an AP count.

On Monday, a drive-by shooting killed two policemen in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, and a suicide bomber attacked a funeral for a sheik in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding one, police said.

The violence raised to 535 the number of people who died in insurgent attacks across Iraq in the last three weeks.

Continues..ad nauseum..