IRAQ Mosul attack raises fears

Is the insurgency spreading beyond the Sunni triangle?
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. troops opened fire after an explosion near a military convoy today in Mosul, as fears grew that the anti-coalition insurgency was spreading north a day after two American soldiers were savagely beaten and killed in the same city.
Near the northern city of Kirkuk, an oil pipeline was on fire today. Adel al-Qazzaz, manager of the Northern Oil Company, said he believed sabotage was to blame. Insurgents have repeatedly targeted pipelines, and sabotage of oil infrastructure has become a major problem for the U.S.-run coalition.
In the Mosul attack, gunmen activated a roadside bomb and opened fire on the convoy, injuring a soldier, the military said.
Local residents said U.S. troops immediately cordoned the area in Hay al-Dobat neighborhood. "I heard a strong explosion, saw the Americans randomly shooting in all directions," said Omar Hamed, a witness.
Also today, an Iraqi Sunni Muslim religious leader called on U.S. forces and resistance groups to observe a one-week cease-fire to allow the Iraqis to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, media reports said.
Adnan al-Duleimi, the head of Iraq's Sunni endowments, appealed to guerrillas to cease operations for a week and also called coalition troops to stop raiding houses and chasing locals. His comments were broadcast by Arab satellite channels.
Soldiers beaten, killed
But there were fears that the insurgency was spreading northward from its original stronghold in the so-called Sunni Triangle.
On Sunday, gunmen in Mosul shot two American soldiers driving through the city center, sending their vehicle crashing into a wall. About a dozen swarming teenagers dragged the men out of the wreckage and beat them with concrete blocks, the witnesses said.
"One of the soldiers was shot under the chin and the bullet came out of his head. I saw the hole in his helmet. The other was shot in the throat," said Bahaa Jassim, a witness.
The city is 250 miles north of Baghdad.
Some people looted the vehicle of weapons, CDs and a backpack, Jassim said.
The frenzy recalled the October 1993 scene in Somalia, when locals dragged the bodies of U.S. Marines killed in fighting with warlords through the streets.
The savagery of the attack was unusual for Mosul, once touted as a success story in sharp contrast to the anti-American violence seen in Sunni Muslim areas just north and west of Baghdad.
Building raided
Members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said U.S. troops and Iraqi police raided one of their offices in Mosul about 10 a.m. A party member, Salem Hussein, said the Americans arrested two PUK guards and confiscated four Kalashnikov rifles, a television set, a computer, a printer, a satellite receiver and a small amount of cash.
U.S. military officials said that someone opened fire on Iraqi police and ran into a PUK building but had no other details.
In recent weeks, attacks against U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies -- such as policemen and politicians working for the interim Iraqi administration -- have increased in the region surrounding Mosul.
In Kirkuk, 150 miles north of Baghdad, three American civilian contractors from the U.S. firm Kellogg Brown & amp; Root were injured Sunday when a bomb exploded at an oil compound.
KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, also has a significant presence at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, which was rocketed by insurgents Friday, wounding one civilian.
In Baqouba, just north of Baghdad, insurgents detonated a roadside bomb as a 4th Infantry Division convoy passed, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the military said Sunday.
And gunmen killed the Iraqi police chief of Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, and his bodyguard and driver, American and Iraqi officials said.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition said it had grounded commercial flights after the military confirmed that a missile struck a DHL cargo plane that landed Saturday at Baghdad International Airport with its wing aflame.
The plane was the first civilian airliner hit by insurgents, who have shot down several military helicopters with shoulder-fired rockets. DHL and Royal Jordanian, the only commercial passenger airline flying into Baghdad, immediately suspended flights.
In Canberra, the Care Australia aid agency said today it was considering its future in Iraq following a weekend attack on its Baghdad office. Chief executive Robert Glasser said three rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the office, causing minor damage but no injuries.