Bomb kills 2 soldiers, Leaflets call on Iraqis for 'Day of Resistance'

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A roadside bomb killed at least two U.S. soldierstoday in Mosul, and many parents kept children away from classes inthe capital after leaflets attributed to Saddam Hussein's partywarned of a "Day of Resistance" against the U.S. occupation.

Also Saturday, witnesses said an oil pipeline was on fire about 10miles north of Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, an area of widespreadopposition to the U.S.-led occupation. Witnesses said they suspectedsabotage because the blaze was preceded by an explosion.

Sabotage to pipelines and the decayed state of Iraqi'sinfrastructure have slowed efforts to revive the country's giant oilindustry, considered the key to rebuilding this nation's economy,which has suffered from more than a decade of wars and sanctions.

The U.S. military said two U.S. soldiers were killed and twowounded in the roadside bombing in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city,which Iraqi police initially reported as a land mine. Identities werewithheld pending notification of relatives.

Iraqi police Lt. Walid Hashim said the men were inside twocivilian cars when the blast occurred. He rushed to the scene and sawthat the drivers were dead while the two passengers were both badlyinjured.

"I tried to pull one of the dead out but his leg was going to comeoff. They were cut all over by shrapnel (and) one was wounded in theabdomen and was moaning," Hashim said.

The two deaths would bring to 122 the number of American soldierskilled by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end tohostile combat on May 1 when added to the total given by theDepartment of Defense on Friday. A total of 114 U.S. soldiers werekilled between the start of the war March 20 and the end of April.

Six Iraqi men were arrested overnight in Tikrit on suspicion ofresponsibility for the Oct. 1 roadside explosion near Samarra thatkilled Command Sgt. Maj. James Blankenbecler, the military saidSaturday. Blankenbecler, 40, of the Fort Hood, Texas-based 1stBattalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, was the highest-ranking U.S. enlisted man to die in Iraq.

Another U.S. soldier was injured in Mosul late Friday when hispatrol was attacked by a grenade or homemade bomb, the military said.