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U.S. soldier killed in Iraq attackBush: 'The Iraqi regime is no more'
(CNN) -- A U.S. soldier was killed and five were wounded early Thursday in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, the U.S. Central Command announced -- the latest casualties in the city, which has become a center of resistance. An unknown assailant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division in Fallujah, which is 43 miles (70 kilometers) west of Baghdad. The injured were evacuated to a military medical facility. Last week, two soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a firefight with hostile forces in Fallujah, and on May 21, at least two Iraqis were killed there when gunmen opened fire on a U.S. patrol in the city center with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles. At the end of April and the beginning of May, 17 Iraqi civilians were killed in three days of clashes with U.S. troops -- 15 on the first day. Seven U.S. soldiers were wounded. Earlier this week, U.S. military officials announced that some 4,000 troops from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division are being sent to Fallujah from Baghdad to restore order. The larger force will include 88 tanks and 44 Bradley fighting vehicles. On Thursday, President Bush was at Camp Al Sayliyeh in Qatar and praised U.S. forces stationed there for their role in the Iraq war. He said coalition forces will "reveal the truth" in their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "We're going to look," Bush said. "We'll reveal the truth, but one thing is certain -- no terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime because the Iraqi regime is no more." (Full story) Bush and his allies face mounting criticism that although they insisted Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, and cited that as a major justification for going to war, no such weapons have been found. (Critics blast Blair, Spain's Aznar pressed on WMDs, Source: CIA to give Congress weapons data) Bush met with the Qatari emir and other officials before speaking to the troops, on his final stop of a weeklong overseas trip He also received an update on the situation in Iraq from U.S. Central Command Chief Gen. Tommy Franks and Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq. (Full story) On his way home Thursday, Bush flew over Iraqi air space for almost an hour, White House officials said. Other developments• Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz experienced chest pains earlier this week and may have suffered a mild heart attack while in custody, U.S. officials told CNN Thursday. Aziz, who has a history of heart problems, is receiving medical treatment for his condition since he turned himself in to the U.S. military in Iraq in April, officials said. • A notorious former Iraqi general whom U.S. authorities had believed was killed in an April 5 airstrike on his home in Basra, may in fact be alive, senior Pentagon officials told CNN. Intelligence from detainees captured in Iraq and other sources have led U.S. officials to change the status of Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majeed on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis from "believed killed" to "unknown." Al-Majeed, a cousin of Saddam Hussein, was given the moniker "Chemical Ali" because he is alleged to have ordered a deadly chemical weapons attack on Kurds in 1988. (Flash gallery: Iraq's most-wanted) • Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix briefed the U.N. Security Council on his latest report Thursday, compiled before the start of the war. Blix said his team did not find any evidence that Iraq had resumed its chemical or biological weapons programs after the first Gulf War. "The commission has not at any time during the inspections in Iraq found evidence of the continuation or resumption of programs of weapons of mass destruction or significant quantities of proscribed items, whether from pre-1991 or later," he said. But he also said Iraq was unable to account for chemical or biological weapons it claimed to have destroyed, and weapons inspectors were unable to clear up discrepancies before they left Baghdad in advance of the invasion. (Full story)
• A senior Iraqi officer on active duty told the British government that Iraq was capable of firing chemical or biological weapons on 45 minutes' notice if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein gave the order, the Financial Times reported Thursday. Government officials told the newspaper they tried to find a second source for the information but were unable to do so. They relied on the information and distributed it because the official was a senior figure in Saddam's regime, not a defector, the newspaper reported. • Great Britain's Home Office said Thursday it would not look favorably on an application to grant asylum to two of Saddam Hussein's daughters after a newspaper quoted their cousin, who lives in Leeds, saying they want to come to England to live near him. The Home Office said it had not received any formal application, and had "no evidence suggesting that Saddam Hussein's daughters would seek asylum in Britain." (Full story) • U.S. troops in northern Iraq recovered what they say they believe is a cache of gold bars -- the third time gold bars have been found in Iraq. These 1,130 bars were discovered inside a truck during a routine weapons search at a Kirkuk checkpoint, military officials said. They detained three men and sent the bars to Kuwait, where U.S. specialists will analyze them.
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