Iraqi mortar strike kills 6

2004-07-08 15:19

Samarra - Four US soldiers and two Iraqi national guardsmen were killed, with another 18 American troops and three Iraqis wounded, in a mortar strike on Thursday on the national guard headquarters in the city of Samarra, a military spokesperson said.

"There was a mortar attack on the Iraqi national guard headquarters in Samarra. They fired four mortar rounds striking and collapsing the building, used by the national guard and 1st Infantry Division soldiers," said the division's spokesperson, Major Neal O'Brien.

Four soldiers were killed and 18 wounded in the attack, he said, giving a revised toll. Two Iraqi national guardsmen also died in the onslaught at 07:55, he said.

The wounded were taken to a military hospital, O'Brien said, while US and Iraqi forces were combing the rubble for survivors.

The US military fired back four 120-millimetre mortars at the suspected location of the insurgents, he added.

Hospital sources, meanwhile, said at least four Iraqis were killed and 30 more wounded in the clashes.

Samarra, 125km north of Baghdad, is a bastion of loyalists of deposed president Saddam Hussein.

The US military has scaled back its presence in the city since March as it sought to stand up a strong Iraqi security force to take on the insurgents. But the better-armed rebels have repeatedly targeted Iraqi security forces.

The latest deaths raised to at least 648 the number of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq since last year's US-led invasion.

- AFP