U.S. vows to hunt down killers

BAGHDAD — U.S. forces pledged yesterday to strike back with “overwhelming” force against insurgents in Fallujah, where attacks on American soldiers and civilians continued a day after a mob mutilated the bodies of four American contractors.

“Coalition forces will respond,” Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad.

“They are coming back, and they are going to hunt down the people responsible for this bestial act. It will be at a time and a place of our choosing. It will be methodical, it will be precise, and it will be overwhelming.”

The streets of Fallujah were largely deserted yesterday, with no police or coalition military presence in sight. But Reuters news agency said U.S. Marines were taking up positions outside the city last night.

Attacks continued yesterday with a roadside bomb injuring three American soldiers near Fallujah, about 30 miles west of Baghdad. In Ramadi, further to the west, a car bomb in a market killed six Iraqis and wounded four, U.S. officials said.

Two roadside bombs exploded northwest of Baghdad, targeting a convoy of gasoline tankers being escorted by U.S. troops, injuring one U.S. military contractor.

In Baghdad, security concerns led officials to cancel a trade fair scheduled for Monday, which was to have been a major showcase to attract potential foreign investors.

U.S. Civilian Administrator L. Paul Bremer expressed outrage at Wednesday’s atrocities in which the bodies of the American contractors were burned, dismembered and dragged through the streets.

“You have to put to shame the human jackals who defiled the streets of Fallujah and the … murderers who besmirched Karbala and Baghdad with the blood of innocents,” Mr. Bremer said at a ceremony for graduating Iraqi police cadets.

Members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council were similarly stunned by the carnage.

“This was so barbarous, I cannot believe this was done by Iraqis. When security is transferred to the Iraqis on June 30, we will see what happens then,” said Amir Khoshaba, deputy to council member Yonadam Kanna.

Mr. Kanna, like many Iraqi officials, has criticized Mr. Bremer for outlawing the death penalty.

In Fallujah, some residents said yesterday that the four contractors had gotten what they deserved.

“The Americans may think it is unusual, but this is what they should expect. They show up in places and shoot civilians, so why can’t they be killed?” a Fallujah store employee who gave his name only as Amir said to Reuters news agency.

Fallujah, at the heart of the so-called “Sunni triangle,” has been a center of resistance to the U.S.-led coalition, with gunbattles occurring almost daily. In one incident a year ago, U.S. troops fired into a crowd killing 15 demonstrators.

The ritual savagery of Wednesday’s attack reminded many of the incident in Somalia a decade ago that was depicted in the movie “Black Hawk Down.”

That time, the United States quickly pulled its troops out of Somalia. But yesterday, Mr. Bremer vowed that coalition forces would remain in place after the June 30 turnover of power to an interim Iraqi government.

“The coalition is here and will remain here to support you, to cooperate with you, and to ease your burden,” he told the graduating cadets.

“After June 30, and for as long as necessary, the coalition will continue to do what is necessary for Iraq to defend itself against murderers and terrorists.”

Police in Fallujah recovered the remains of the four American contractors on Wednesday night, wrapped them in blankets and handed them over to U.S. forces.

“We were shocked because our Islamic beliefs reject such behavior,” said police Lt. Salah Abdullah.

The four slain contractors worked for Blackwater Security Consulting of Moyock, N.C., which provides training and guard services to customers around the world. The company said it was providing security for the delivery of food in the Fallujah area under a government contract.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, speaking to Germany’s ZDF Television, said the United States was “not going to withdraw, we’re not going to be run out” of Iraq.

“America has the ability to stay, fight an enemy and defeat an enemy,” he said. “We wish no soldier, no civilian, had been killed in this conflict. We also know sometimes to achieve a noble purpose, it does take the loss of life.”

Mr. Powell also said he believed there would be a new U.N. resolution on Iraq “as we move closer” to the turnover of sovereignty, which he said may defuse Spain’s threat to pull out unless the United Nations takes political control in Iraq.

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.