Bloody Christmas in Iraq
2003-12-26 15:33
Baghdad - Eight US soldiers have been killed across Iraq over the Christmas period, as a series of attacks battered the capital.
The latest US troop fatalities came on Friday with one soldier killed defusing a roadside bomb near Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, and another when his convoy hit a booby-trap explosive between Baquba and Samarra, said Captain Jefferson Wolfe.
"There was an IED (improvised explosive device) attack on a convoy, two soldiers were injured, one of whom later died," Wolfe said.
"Soldiers returned fire and were able to kill two former regime elements."
Their deaths took to eight the number of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq since Christmas Eve.
On Thursday night, two US soldiers died during a mortar attack on a US army base near Baquba, military spokesperson Josslyn Aberle said on Friday.
Four other soldiers were wounded in the attack, she said, while an officer in Baquba put the wounded toll at six.
The latest deaths raise to 209 the number of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq since US President George W Bush declared major combat over May 1.
On Wednesday, three US soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were killed in a roadside bombing near Samarra and another from the 1st Armoured Division died in a Baghdad blast.
Two US soldiers were also wounded during a gun battle Friday in the northern capital of Mosul, said Major Hugh Cate of the 101st Airborne Division.
Further south, two Polish soldiers were wounded early Friday in a bomb and mortar attack on their convoy outside a military base, a spokesperson for the Polish military said.