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WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2003 – An American soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was killed in an "improvised explosive attack" that wounded two others late Aug. 10. Three other American soldiers have died in Iraq in the past several days. Despite these deaths, coalition forces continue to make progress throughout the country.
The Aug. 10 attack occurred about 9:45 p.m. near the police station in the northern Iraq town of Baqubah, U.S. Central Command officials said. Few other details are available. A day earlier, a soldier with the 3rd Corps Support Command "died from apparent heat stress" while riding in a convoy north of Ad Diwaniyah. Also on Aug. 9, a 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldier "was found dead in troop living quarters" in Baghdad around 5 p.m. local time, according to CENTCOM news releases. Another soldier from the 4th Inf. Div. "died while sleeping" at a camp in Kirkush Aug. 8, CENTCOM officials said. In other developments, CENTCOM announced Aug. 9 that Mahmud Dhiyab al-Ahmad, No. 29 on the list of 55 most-wanted officials from Saddam Hussein's regime, had surrendered to coalition forces Aug. 8. Coalition forces continue their day-to-day efforts to improve Iraqi citizens' lives. Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division helped renovate an Olympic-sized swimming pool in Mosul, which opened to the public Aug. 8. Engineers from the 101st first saw the pool "surrounded by piles of trash and debris and (with) only four feet of water in it," according to an Aug. 10 CENTCOM news release. "A heavy-equipment platoon and a construction platoon worked with local contractors to level the ground and make the needed renovations to the pool and its main pool house." The soldiers then brought in "close to 100 truckloads of dirt to level off the ground around the pool," the release said. The crews also fixed the pipes, filters and tanks. Iraqi Agriculture Ministry workers returned to work in new office space Aug. 8, thanks to the efforts of 4th Inf. Div. Soldiers. American soldiers and about 100 local Iraqi workers cleaned and painted the building's exterior, and replaced windows and wiring. They also installed desks, copy machines, computers and fans for the building's 50 occupants. The project cost about $85,000, which came out of the unit commander's "discretionary funds," the CENTCOM release stated. Another $10,000 went toward purchasing office furniture.
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