Two US soldiers' throats slit

2003-11-23 19:24

Mosul - Three US soldiers were killed in northern Iraq on Sunday, including two in the heart of the city of Mosul who witnesses said had their throats slit.

Two shopkeepers who saw the attack said the two soldiers killed had their throats slit after being ambushed in traffic.

A senior US military spokesperson said it would be "ghoulish" to comment on the testimony, but did not specifically deny it.

"Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division Air Assault were killed just after 12:00 in west Mosul (the main part of the city)," said spokesperson Joshua Hutcheson in Mosul.

They were "shot while en route from one compound to another in the city," said Hutcheson, although it did not say they were shot dead.

Witnesses said they saw gunmen open fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles on a three-vehicle convoy in the central Ras Jada district of the city.

"The last car was hit and crashed into a wall," said Atallah Karim Omar who runs a grocery store nearby.

Both Omar and another witness, baker Raed Amer Zaffar, said the other two vehicles had continued on their way, allowing the assailants to approach the stricken soldiers and remove their helmets and flak jackets.

They said the attackers then slit the soldiers' throats but they disagreed as to whether there were three or four assailants.

Questioned about the witness accounts at a briefing, Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt said it would be inappropriate to discuss the issue.

"We have an ongoing investigation. It is not our policy to discuss the specifics of injuries sustained by soldiers and this is not a good place to discuss these kind of things."

He said that "in the interest of the families and with respect to human dignity, there will be no further elaboration on this incident pending notification of next of kin and completion of the investigation."

- AFP