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Monday 24 March 2003
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Frustrated assault of armored truck ends life of two guards

Mariana Barboza
Telenoticias

This happened  last Saturday in Alajuela the past and the police apprehended one of the suspected assailants.

Minutes before 8pm, the guards of an armored truck of the company SECURICOR that transports valuables, stopped to collect money at the el Galeron de las Ofertas supermarket located in Alajuela center.

On leaving the supermarket, 3 men shot at the guards in an attempt to rob them. In the interchange of bullets, 2 guards were killed.

In addition, a woman who was near the scene was wounded, as well as one of the assailants, to who another woman offered aid to get him to the hospital without knowing that he was one of the delinquents.

The suspect is in the hospital San Rafael de Alajuela under guard by the police. The accomplices fled without taking their loot (money) and police are following on their tracks.

The fallen guards in the frustrated assault were Alexander Zúñiga Miranda, who died on the scene, and Juan Jose Piedra Barboza, that died later in hospital.

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Coalition casualty list
Coalition deaths total 25 during the war: Two U.S. Marines were killed in combat. Five U.S. deaths and 14 British deaths were due to a pair of accidental helicopter crashes. A U.S. soldier was killed Sunday in a grenade attack by a fellow soldier in northern Kuwait. One U.S. soldier was killed in a vehicle accident in southern Iraq Sunday morning. And two British troops were killed Sunday when their plane was shot down by a Patriot Missile. The casualty list below reflects the names of the personnel whose families have been notified. Source: CNN)

Lieutenant Thomas Mullin Adams, 27 La Mesa, California Exchange officer with the Royal Navy's 849 Squadron Killed when two British helicopters collided March 22, 2003 Maj. Jay Aubin, 36 Waterville, Maine 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Killed when a U.S. CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed March 21, 2003 Capt. Ryan Beaupre, 30 Bloomington, Illinois 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Killed when a U.S. CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed March 21, 2003 2nd Lt. Therrel S. Childers, 30 Harrison, Mississippi 1st Battalion, 5th Marines Killed in combat in southern Iraq March 21, 2003 Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22 Los Angeles, California 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines Killed in combat in southern Iraq March 21, 2003 Cpl. Brian Kennedy, 25 Houston, Texas 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Killed when a U.S. CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed March 21, 2003 Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27 Home-of-record unavailable Army's 101st Airborne Division Killed by a grenade thrown by a fellow U.S. soldier in Kuwait March 23, 2003 Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Watersbey, 29 Baltimore, Maryland 3d Marine Aircraft Wing Killed when a U.S. CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed March 21, 2003

Some US soldiers captured by Iraqis: Pentagon
The Pentagon confirmed Sunday that about 10 US soldiers missing in the invasion of Iraq have been captured as prisoners by Iraqis.

US Central Command now was investigating reports that some US soldiers were missing in the operations, Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the "Fox News Sunday" program.

"They are trying to account for the soldiers that are reported missing, and beyond that we don't know," Myers said when asked about the reports from Iraq.

Earlier, the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera aired footage from Iraqi television of interviews with what the station identified as captured American prisoners, and also broadcast scenes of American bodies in uniform in an Iraqi morgue.

Two British servicemen missing in southern Iraq
Two British servicemen are reported missing following an attack on them in southern Iraq on Sunday, the British Defense Ministry said Monday.

No details are given by the ministry, which only said that every effort is being made to recover the two men. It is believed that the ministry is deliberately holding back information for fears that they could fall into enemy hands.

This is another setback to the British military after an RAF "Tornado" fighter was shot down in Kuwait by an American missile earlier Sunday.

Thousands arrested after Serbian PM's assassination
More than 3,000 suspects have been rounded up with over 1,000 remaining in detention since a state of emergency was declared throughout Serbia after Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was shot dead on March 12, Serbian deputy prime minister Cedomir Jovanovic confirmed Sunday.

Processing of some cases of arrested gang members could start next week, Jovanovic said.

Investigation and information provided by foreign police indicate that a Belgrade criminal group controlling the drug trade in the area was behind the killing of Djindjic, the interior ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Police described the group as one of the "largest organized crime groups of cocaine and heroin smugglers exclusive to this part of Europe," adding its wealth is measured in billions of dollars. The group, named the Zemun gang after a Belgrade district,was also the main drug cartel supplying and selling cocaine, heroin and other narcotics to the entire region, said the statement.

The Serbian media reported that the Zemun gang controlled around 80 percent of the illegal drugs market in Serbia, supplying it with 100 kg of narcotics a month.

Djindjic, the reformist Serbian leader who played a key role in ousting Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, was gunned down on March 12 outside Belgrade's main government building.

"The investigation...unambiguously shows that the Zemun gang-- led by Milorad Lukovic Legija, Dusan Spasojevic Siptar and Mile Lukovic Kum -- directly organized and carried out the assassination of Serbia's Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic," the statement said.

Police in a massive search for Djindjic's killers have so far arrested several of what they say are 20 key members of the Zemun group, believed to total around 200 members.

Two of Zemun's bosses, ex-special police commander Lukovic and Spasojevic, are still at large. Jovanovic said police believed they were still hiding in Belgrade.

"The police are reassuring citizens that all members of this criminal gang will be brought to justice," the statement said.

Saddam meets top army commanders, ministers
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met his top army commanders and ministers late Sunday despite waves of US-led bombardment, Iraqi TV reported.

The broadcast did not air pictures of the meeting, which was attended by ministers of industry and higher education, as well as commanders of the air defenses.