U.S. marines suffer heavy casualties in western Iraq fighting
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at 18:43 on April 14, 2006, EST.
An Iraqi boy cycles past one of two Iraqi Mosques which were attacked by suicide bombers Friday in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. (AP/Mohammed Adnan)
BAGHDAD (AP) - Two U.S. marines were killed and 22 wounded, two of them critically, in fighting in western Iraq, the U.S. command announced Saturday.
A U.S. statement said the casualties occurred Thursday as a result of "enemy action" in Anbar province but did not give a specific location or provide details of the fighting.
It said one marine died "at the scene of the attack." Another died at a medical facility in Taqqadum, the statement added.
Eight wounded marines were evacuated by air to a medical facility in Balad. Two were listed in critical condition and six were reported as stable, the statement said.
Ten wounded marines were evacuated to a medical facility at Camp Fallujah. Four were held for observation and the others were treated and returned to duty, the statement said.
Four others received minor wounds, the statement said.
Dozens of Iraqi police were missing Friday and nine were dead after insurgents ambushed their convoy as they left a U.S. base outside Baghdad where they had picked up new vehicles, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.
Brig.-Gen. Abbas Maadal complained the Americans refused to allow the police to spend Thursday night at the base, just north of the Iraqi capital. But U.S. spokesman Lt.-Col. Barry Johnson said no such request had been made and the Iraqis had not asked for U.S. troops to guard the convoy.
The attack, the deadliest against police in months, began about 7:30 p.m. local time Thursday, as a convoy of 109 police was travelling through a sparsely populated area near the Taji base heading back to Najaf, 160 kilometres to the south, Maadal said.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/WorldNewsArticle.htm?src=w041457A.xml
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at 18:43 on April 14, 2006, EST.
An Iraqi boy cycles past one of two Iraqi Mosques which were attacked by suicide bombers Friday in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. (AP/Mohammed Adnan)
BAGHDAD (AP) - Two U.S. marines were killed and 22 wounded, two of them critically, in fighting in western Iraq, the U.S. command announced Saturday.
A U.S. statement said the casualties occurred Thursday as a result of "enemy action" in Anbar province but did not give a specific location or provide details of the fighting.
It said one marine died "at the scene of the attack." Another died at a medical facility in Taqqadum, the statement added.
Eight wounded marines were evacuated by air to a medical facility in Balad. Two were listed in critical condition and six were reported as stable, the statement said.
Ten wounded marines were evacuated to a medical facility at Camp Fallujah. Four were held for observation and the others were treated and returned to duty, the statement said.
Four others received minor wounds, the statement said.
Dozens of Iraqi police were missing Friday and nine were dead after insurgents ambushed their convoy as they left a U.S. base outside Baghdad where they had picked up new vehicles, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.
Brig.-Gen. Abbas Maadal complained the Americans refused to allow the police to spend Thursday night at the base, just north of the Iraqi capital. But U.S. spokesman Lt.-Col. Barry Johnson said no such request had been made and the Iraqis had not asked for U.S. troops to guard the convoy.
The attack, the deadliest against police in months, began about 7:30 p.m. local time Thursday, as a convoy of 109 police was travelling through a sparsely populated area near the Taji base heading back to Najaf, 160 kilometres to the south, Maadal said.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/WorldNewsArticle.htm?src=w041457A.xml