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Grenade attack kills U.S. soldier in IraqDetainees mum on weapons program, intelligence officials say
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A U.S. soldier was killed and two others wounded Thursday when a rocket-propelled grenade hit a military ambulance south of Baghdad, U.S. Central Command said. It was the fourth attack on coalition forces in 24 hours. The extent of the injuries was not clear. Soldiers from the 804th Medical Brigade were transporting a patient injured in another incident to the 28th Combat Army Support Hospital, Central Command said. "The ambulance was clearly marked with a big red cross," Capt. John Morgan said. "No regard for human life." The grenade hit in the town of Al Iskandariyah, north of Camp Dogwood. In a separate attack, a semi-truck was destroyed in al Doura, near the area where a U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded Wednesday. No one was hurt in Thursday's attack. Ambushes have killed 17 U.S. troops in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major combat May 1, and another 37 have died in what are described as non-hostile incidents. U.S. forces have launched a major effort to hunt down remaining pockets of resistance, a campaign dubbed Operation Desert Scorpion. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday that attacks on U.S. troops by Iraqi "dead-enders" would continue for some time but said he saw no sign of a central or regional organization behind them. Earlier Thursday, Central Command said one Iraqi was killed and 12 wounded in a mortar attack on a coalition building north of Baghdad. No U.S. troops were injured. Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, stationed at the civil military operations center in Samarra, reported hearing three explosions, according to a Central Command statement. Samarra is about 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Baghdad. The soldiers contacted local police, who found the 13 casualties. The attackers were not found and the incident was under investigation. The civil military operations center in Samarra assists with humanitarian efforts by linking the military with governmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations in Iraq. "This is one of numerous incidents recently where Iraqi resisters have attacked coalition forces or Coalition Provisional Authority locations and injured or killed Iraqi citizens," the statement said. Hearings on intelligenceNone of the high-level Iraqis who have been captured or surrendered to the United States have offered significant intelligence information regarding weapons of mass destruction so far, U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday. Officials said Gen. Abid Hamid Mahmud Al-Tikriti, the highest-ranking official in custody to date, has not talked to interrogators. U.S. Special Forces caught Mahmud, Saddam Hussein's personal secretary, senior bodyguard and national security adviser, in a raid Monday. His capture is considered key since he was a top Saddam confidant and may know the deposed leader's whereabouts. (Flash card deck: Iraq's most-wanted; non-Flash gallery) Officials cited a growing belief in the U.S. intelligence community that Saddam is alive -- based on interviews with Iraqi officials and scientists as well as information from local Iraqis. Intelligence officials have told Bush administration policymakers that some low-level Iraqis may be more willing to offer information after the capture of the deposed Iraqi president or in exchange for some type of guarantee they won't have to face war crime charges. Rumsfeld indicated Wednesday that offering plea bargains for the low-level officials had been discussed. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that getting former members of Saddam's regime to talk would be crucial in the search for weapons of mass destruction. "You're not going to find it in a house-to-house search," he said. Noting that Baghdad is the size of Los Angeles, Wolfowitz said a weapon such as anthrax "could be hidden in a room a fraction the size of this one." The House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday held the first closed-door hearings on intelligence efforts before the U.S.-led war amid questions about the coalition's failure to find weapons of mass destruction. The hearing is the first in what could be several hearings in the House and Senate in the months ahead to examine intelligence questions. (Full story) Other developments• Crude oil, stored since the start of the Iraq war, will be loaded onto tankers beginning Sunday, clearing the way for an oil pipeline from northern Iraq to resume operations, Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization said Thursday. Eight million barrels of oil have been stored in tanks at the end of the pipeline at Ceyhan, Turkey. They will be loaded on tankers for delivery to refineries that have purchased the crude. • U.S. soldiers killed two Iraqi demonstrators during an angry protest in Baghdad by former soldiers who had not been paid in three months. (Gallery: Confrontation in Baghdad) • Amid criticism that the United States and Britain exaggerated the threat from Saddam to justify war with Iraq, Bush offered a strong defense Wednesday of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "He operated on very sound intelligence. And those accusations are simply not true," said Bush, responding to a reporter's question at the White House. Blair joined Bush in going to war with Iraq in the face of massive opposition in his country and much of Europe. He now faces multiple inquiries from the Parliament. CNN correspondents Jane Arraf, Dana Bash, Satinder Bindra, David Ensor, Jamie McIntyre, Barbara Starr and Ben Wedeman and CNN Producers Paul Courson and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
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