FALLUJA, Iraq (REUTERS) — A vengeful crowd of cheering Iraqis dragged the burned and mutilated bodies of four American contractors through the streets of Falluja Wednesday after killing them in a vehicle ambush.
In a separate attack, five American soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb was detonated beside their armored vehicle convoy west of Baghdad, the U.S. army said.
The White House vowed the United States would stay the course in Iraq despite another bloody day.
The Falluja violence began when guerrillas attacked two four-wheel-drive vehicles on a main road. A crowd set the vehicles ablaze and dragged the bodies through the streets of the town 32 miles west of Baghdad, witnesses said.
A State Department spokesman in Washington said the four were U.S. citizens. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. Army in Iraq, said they were contractors for the U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq.
In the United States, footage broadcast by news networks excluded scenes of the bodies being dragged through the streets.
Television film of a similar incident in Somalia in 1993 sickened Americans over the U.S. mission there and was a factor in the decision to pull U.S. forces from the African state.
“These are horrific attacks by people who are trying to prevent democracy from moving forward, but democracy is taking root,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. He said the United States was holding fast to a June 30 deadline for handing over power in Iraq to a transitional Iraqi government.
In the television pictures, a member of the jubilant crowd was seen kicking the head of one incinerated body and stamping on its head, while others in the crowd dragged a charred and blackened body by its feet.
As one corpse lay burning on the ground, an Iraqi came and doused it with gasoline, sending flames soaring into the air. At least two bodies, their skin burned away, were tied to cars and pulled through the streets, witnesses said.
“This is the fate of all Americans who come to Falluja,” said Mohammad Nafik, one of the crowd surrounding the bodies.
Some body parts were pulled off and left hanging from a telephone cable, while two incinerated bodies were later strung from a bridge and left dangling there.
A young boy beat one of the incinerated bodies after it was pulled down with his shoe as a crowd cheered.
“I am happy to see this. The Americans are occupying us, so this is what will happen,” said Mohammad, 12, looking on.
As the victims lay burning, a crowd of about 150 men chanted: “Long live Islam” and “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”) while flashing victory signs for the television cameras.
No U.S. soldiers or Iraqi police were seen in the area for several hours after the attack, but a U.S. fighter plane roared overhead, prompting the crowd to scatter.
Wednesday’s scenes were reminiscent of an October 1993 incident in Somalia when 18 U.S. Army Rangers and one Malaysian were killed in the downing by Somali militias of two U.S. helicopters. Mobs dragged the bodies of Americans through the streets of Mogadishu.
Falluja has been one of the most violent, restive towns in Iraq since the U.S.-led occupation began. There are almost daily strikes against U.S. military convoys in the area.
More than 400 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action since the start of the war, many of them in attacks using improvised explosive devices — charges hidden in a plastic bag, soft-drink can or dead animal and wired to a simple detonator.
With less than 100 days to go before U.S. authorities hand over sovereignty to an Iraqi government, the U.S. military, Iraqi police and other local security forces are battling to bring security to the country.
