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Six British troops killed in IraqU.S.: Syria demanding return of border guards
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Six British military police were killed Tuesday in the deadliest incident for coalition forces since major combat was declared over in Iraq, British Defense Secretary Geoffrey Hoon said. Another eight were injured in a separate attack in the same area, he said. Both attacks took place near the city of Amarah, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) north of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, a ministry spokesman told CNN. (Full story) Hoon said the soldiers killed were members of the Royal Military Police who were training local Iraqi police in al-Majar al-Kabir, a village just outside Amarah in southern Iraq. Initial information gathered from local residents indicates the soldiers "may have been involved in an incident at the local police station," Hoon told the House of Commons. "British commanders are investigating with a matter of urgency." In the second clash -- also in al-Majar al-Kabir -- members of Britain's 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment were in their vehicles early Tuesday morning when they were targeted by rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns, and rifle fire "from a large number of Iraqi gunmen," Hoon said. British troops returned fire and called for additional forces, and the Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter that arrived, carrying a Quick Reaction Force, came under fire as it landed, Hoon said. Eight British troops were injured -- one on the ground and seven in the helicopter, he said. Two sustained "very serious injuries" and were transferred to a field hospital in Kuwait, while the other six were treated in a nearby coalition hospital, he said. The British military is investigating whether the two attacks are related. Tuesday's attacks marked the first major ones on British forces since Baghdad fell to the coalition on April 9, the defense ministry said, and the casualties were the first British deaths in combat since the major fighting in Iraq was declared over May 1. In that same time period, 19 U.S. troops have been killed in attacks by Iraqis, according to the U.S. military. A series of attacks has been reported this week throughout Iraq, coalition officials said Tuesday. At the Pentagon, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it is uncertain whether the attacks were coordinated or the work of unconnected resistance groups. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld added, "You may see things that appear to be coordinated in a particular area that are not coordinated throughout the entire country." Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld said coalition troops are "making progress against the dead-enders who are harassing coalition forces. Just as they were unable to stop the coalition advance in Baghdad, the death squads will not stop our commitment to create stability and security in postwar Iraq." In the central city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a U.S. soldier was wounded and three Iraqis killed Tuesday in a small-arms firefight at a checkpoint, U.S. Central Command said. Two other Iraqis were wounded, Central Command said. The American soldier was evacuated and treated at a military medical facility, according to the U.S. military. In Daura, east of Baghdad, a grenade was thrown Monday at a military police vehicle, then bounced off and exploded under another vehicle, wounding two Iraqi civilians, according to Central Command. U.S. soldiers treated the injured Iraqis, who were released, Central Command said. Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division came under attack Monday in two places in northern Iraq, coalition officials said. No casualties were reported, officials said. In Fallujah, considered a hotbed of anti-U.S. resentment and home to supporters of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a group of Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades Monday at U.S. troops guarding a power plant, witnesses said. An Iraqi outside his home was killed when the troops returned fire, witnesses said. Coalition officials said Tuesday that they had no word of that incident. Aftermath of attack on Iraqi convoyThe Syrian government is demanding the speedy return of five border guards being held following a U.S. attack last week against an Iraqi convoy, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday. Three Syrian guards were wounded in the U.S. mission near the Syrian border. (Map) The U.S. Embassy's charge d'affaires -- the second-most senior U.S. diplomat in Damascus -- met Monday with Syrian officials, according to a State Department official. The official said there appeared to have been a "communications breakdown" with the U.S. Central Command, and details are still unknown about how the events surrounding last Wednesday's attack unfolded. "We still haven't gotten a good, accurate accounting," said the State Department official. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the Pentagon is investigating the circumstances of the raid. "We need to allow some time so that people can sort through what took place and then get back to us," Rumsfeld said. He said "the appropriate people in the United States government and the Syrian government" were discussing the Syrians' return. "The process by which that will take place is something that's being discussed in other channels," he said. "And it will happen, and I don't know that anyone needs a reason why it hasn't happened in five minutes or two days or five days." Coalition forensic teams may do DNA tests on those killed in the attack to determine whether Saddam was among the dead, sources said Monday. Pentagon officials are downplaying speculation the former Iraqi leader was killed in the strike. (Map) Based on intelligence related to the capture of Gen. Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, a top Saddam aide, U.S. forces targeted the convoy of six or seven vehicles leaving a compound in the Iraqi border town of Qaim en route to Syria, officials said. (Gallery: Iraq's most-wanted) According to government sources, a U.S. Air Force Predator drone tracked the vehicles, which split into two groups. A special operations AC-130 gunship was called in, and a strike occurred involving an F-15 fighter and Apache helicopters, the sources said. The AC-130 opened fire with its 105 mm cannon, and a commando team from Task Force 20 moved in. After the initial attack, a person was spotted on foot near the Syrian border. U.S. special operations forces pursued the individual, and some Syrian border guards showed up, the sources said. Pentagon officials said U.S. troops then may have crossed the Syrian border. An engagement occurred, and the three Syrians were wounded, officials said. The Syrians are receiving medical treatment from the U.S. military, officials said. Some local villagers have said the people killed in the attack were sheep smugglers. Pentagon officials said they might have been smugglers but said U.S. intelligence strongly suggests high-level Iraqis were among their cargo. Most of the 20 people captured in the attack have been released, Pentagon officials said. (Full story) Other developments• A unit with the 4th Infantry Division arrested an Iraqi "for selling propaganda tapes allegedly showing U.S. soldiers being executed during the 1991 Gulf War," Central Command said. • Operation Desert Scorpion, currently under way, is aimed at cracking down on those behind the attacks on coalition troops. The U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that the 1st Armored Division and the 4th Infantry Division conducted 13 more raids, detained 34 people, and confiscated weapons -- including two AK-47s, one rocket-propelled grenade, three pistols, two rifles and 100 hand grenades. • U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended Tuesday that the U.N. mission that has monitored the border between Kuwait and Iraq since 1991 be shut down. The U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission suspended operations March 17, before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. During the war most of the mission's property on the Iraqi side of the border was destroyed. Annan proposed a final three-month extension of the mission's mandate. CNN correspondents Andrea Koppel, Jamie McIntyre and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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