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Troops find terror bomb factory
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. soldiers have found what they called a terrorist bomb-making facility in southern Baghdad filled with enough TNT and other components to destroy three city blocks. Members of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, were led to the abandoned residential complex by an Iraqi farmer, Col. Mike Linnington, brigade commander said Wednesday. The farmer said the plant had been abandoned a few days ago, according to Linnington. About 450 kilograms (1,000 pounds) of TNT were found along with completed bombs, some of which appeared to be suicide bombs. They also found dynamite, nitroglycerin and plastic explosives. The soldiers found walkie-talkies and alarm clocks that apparently were to be used as detonation devices. The facility included an explosives training center with a model of a road used to instruct where to plant bombs. In other action , a U.S. Marine patrol recovered an estimated $3.7 million taken during an attempt to loot a Baghdad bank. The Marines were called in by Iraqis who reported a bank was being looted Tuesday. As the Marines entered the bank three robbers fired at them from inside the depository, a U.S. Central Command statement said. The Marines returned fire killing one person and injuring a second. A third person escaped, the statement said. In northern Iraq, U.S. Marines tried to assert control Wednesday over Mosul as Iraqis protested the "American occupation" of the main government building. Central Command has admitted its soldiers shot dead seven Iraqi demonstrators. The troops are believed to have opened fire after a crowd had gathered in the city center to protest at U.S. Marines taking over a former Kurdish government building and allegedly raising the American flag. Details of the incident, which happened Tuesday, are being investigated, but Brigadier General Vincent Brooks at U.S. Central Command in Qatar said Wednesday he believed seven people had died. A senior Kurdish intelligence officer told CNN the number was 12.
CH-53 helicopters were circling low over Mosul Wednesday in an apparent show of strength, said CNN's Ben Wedeman. Wedeman said the Americans were finding it hard to keep order. On Wednesday another three people died in a shooting believed to be linked to an attempted robbery. Wedeman said Kurdish forces, who entered the city with U.S. troops last week, had pulled out of the western Arab part of the town, and had not been replaced with American soldiers. The U.S. controls the skies, if the not the ground, Wedeman said, "but that does not appear enough." Residents gathered on the streets Tuesday protesting against what they saw as the "American occupation" of the town's main government building, the Kurdish intelligence official told CNN. The official said the crowd became angry when U.S. troops set up offices in Mosul's main government building and raised the American flag. Tensions rose when Mishaan Jabouri, a Damascus-based exile perceived by the protesters to be a U.S. puppet, tried to make a speech about America and democracy. A witness said the crowd began throwing stones at him then U.S. troops opened fire. "No to the Americans. No to the governor," the protesters chanted, the intelligence official told CNN. Some said: "The time for jihad has come." Jabouri has denied having been appointed governor and told the Arabic network Al-Jazeera he would never accept American occupation. U.S. military officials said the Marines opened fire on the crowd after apparently being shot at by at least one sniper with an AK-47. They were also pelted with rocks and faced members of the crowd trying to scale the compound wall. Meanwhile in the capital Baghdad, U.S. troops are working with armed Iraqis, called Free Iraqi Forces, in an attempt to bring peace to the streets. About 120 Iraqi soldiers with AK-47s are on patrol in the city, part of a force of about 700 trained by the Americans. In the past few days, the Iraqi soldiers have patrolled cities in predominantly Shiite areas in south-central Iraq. The rest of the Iraqi forces are expected to be deployed to Baghdad in the coming days. Aid agencies are increasingly worried that civil disorder has destroyed hospitals and medical supplies, preventing help getting to wounded and dying Iraqis. U.S. soldiers were also standing guard Wednesday at Iraq's National Museum, another target for looters. (Full story) Other developments: • Italy wants to extradite a convicted Palestinian terrorist captured by U.S. forces in Baghdad, the country's justice minister said on Wednesday. (Full story) • Gen. Tommy Franks, who directed the coalition campaign, was in Baghdad Wednesday for the first time, U.S. Central Command officials told CNN. • U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the U.S. has concerns about two of Iraq's neighbors -- Syria and Iran -- but that "there is no war plan" to attack other countries. The White House accuses Syria of producing chemical weapons, harboring senior members of Saddam Hussein's regime and supporting terrorism -- allegations that Syria denies. (Full story) • French President Jacques Chirac telephoned U.S. President George W. Bush -- the first time the two leaders had spoken since the beginning of the war, which France adamantly opposed. (Full story) • According to the latest figures provided by U.S. and British authorities, 152 coalition service members have died in the conflict. (Coalition casualties) • The Iraqi government released no information on military losses during the war, though U.S. officials have reported thousands of Iraqi military deaths. Before the collapse of Saddam's regime, Abu Dhabi TV, quoting official Iraqi sources, put the figure at 1,252. U.S. Central Command said more than 7,300 Iraqis were taken prisoner of war.
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