Active Unit News

29 May 2003 15:57:36 GMT
U.S. military says three Iraqis dead after shootout
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BAGHDAD, May 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Thursday it may have killed three Iraqi men when a U.S. army patrol came under fire in a town north of Baghdad. U.S. Central Command said in a statement soldiers on patrol in Samarra, around 100 km (60 miles) north of the capital, returned fire when they were shot at after dark on Monday. "Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division conducting a patrol observed the occupants of three white trucks firing weapons in public," the statement said. Occupants of one truck fired directly at the U.S. soldiers and the vehicle sped off when fire was returned, Centcom said. Shortly afterwards, the local hospital reported that the bodies of three young men had been brought there. "The exact cause of their deaths is unknown at this time," it said. "4th Infantry Division commanders have met with local officials and tribal leaders to discuss the incident." There were no casualties on the U.S. side, the statement said. U.S. troops trying to quell lawlessness seven weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein have come under attack in several parts of Iraq in the last week. Centcom said earlier a U.S. soldier was killed when he came under hostile fire in Iraq on Thursday. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and nine wounded on Tuesday in an ambush near Falluja, west of Baghdad.

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