7 Killed Including 4 Marines Mortars

7 Killed, including 4 Marines;

Mortars land near Allawi’s INA Offices

Wire services report that 7 persons were killed in separate incidents in Iraq on Wednesday, including 4 US Marines and two Iraqi National Guardsmen.

Bombs and mortar fire struck downtown Baghdad near the offices of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s Iraqi National Accord and the American Green Zone on Wednesday, but apparently producing only light casualties. Two mortar shells struck a medical center near the INA HQ, wounding three persons slightly in a nearby residential district.

Guerrillas launched an attack Wednesday morning at Haifa Street in Baghdad on Iraqi national guards and US troops, killing 2 national guardsmen and wounding 10. The US called in helicopter strikes in retaliation.

AFP reports that guerrilla violence in Mosul killed one Iraqi and wounded 11.

In another incident, guerrillas killed 4 US Marines on Tuesday

Guerrillas in Ramadi assassinated Hussein Amir Abdel Jabbar al-Ali, son of a tribal leader of the Dulaim and a member of the al-Anbar governing council, on Tuesday.

Guerrillas took hostage an Egyptian driver who had been delivering gasoline to US troops. Al-Zaman says that Egypt is discouraging its nationals from taking jobs in Iraq. The move follows a similar one by the Philippines, which also has a hostage crisis.