Fort Carson soldiers in a four-hour firefight in Iraq

Ambushed Fort Carson soldiers battled Shiite insurgents Tuesday in Baghdad before ending the four-hour firefight by calling in fire from a seldom-used mobile rocket launcher.

Six soldiers were wounded in the battle, which started after the insurgents hit a convoy with rifle fire. All the soldiers were expected to survive their wounds and were safely evacuated to hospitals, the 4th Infantry Division headquarters in Baghdad that oversees Carson's 3rd Brigade Combat Team said in a news release.

Commanders said the battle started at 9:30 a.m., when a soldier was wounded when his convoy was raked with rifle fire. Another vehicle was hit by roadside bombs while soldiers were trying to evacuate the wounded man. Three more soldiers were wounded in the bombing and attackers' fire, which included rocketpropelled grenades, the headquarters reported.

And two more soldiers were wounded when a second vehicle was hit later in the battle.

In its statement, the Army said soldiers returned fire with all available weapons, eventually calling on a mobile rocket launcher, which has seldom been used in Iraq since the invasion five years ago.

The rocket system, which launches missiles with 200-pound warheads, is the biggest weapon in the Army's array of artillery. Commanders shy away from using it against insurgents because of the damage it causes and the risk of civilian casualties.

Commanders said 28 insurgents died in the battle.

"We will defend ourselves and the law-abiding Iraqi citizens," Col. Allen Batschelet the division's chief of staff, said in a statement.

"We continually show great restraint and professionalism when attacked, and clearly identify the enemy before engaging their positions," he said. "The enemy continues to show little regard for innocent civilians, as they fire their weapons from within houses, alleyways and rooftops upon our soldiers."

Running battles in Baghdad have become increasingly frequent for the brigade since a Shiite uprising last month followed the Iraqi army's attempt to disarm militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the southern city of Basra.

The 3,600-soldier Fort Carson brigade has been reinforced with a battalion of troops from Germany. Its soldiers, who used to ride through the city in armored Humvees, have switched to M-1 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles to protect themselves from ambushes.

The brigade has also increased its reliance on air support from Army and Air Force craft to strike targets in Sadr City, a Shiite neighborhood of 2.5 million.

On Sunday, troops from the brigade turned back a Shiite attack on a checkpoint with tank fire. Sunday's battles left 22 insurgents dead, the Army said.

Officials at the Imam Ali and al-Sadr general hospitals said about 25 Iraqis had died in the battle Tuesday, with several dozen wounded, the Associated Press reported.

The Associated Press reported that Tuesday's attack occurred along a road on which the Army is putting up concrete barriers. The brigade has been using the barriers - larger versions of the ones used to separate freeway traffic - to funnel residents of Sadr City through checkpoints where they can be searched for weapons.

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U.S. CASUALTY

The U.S. military said an American soldier was killed Tuesday night in northwestern Baghdad when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS