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At least 10 dead in Iraq in apparent mistakeTwo coalition troops die in raid west of Baghdad
FALLUJAH, Iraq (CNN) -- A shootout involving Iraqi police in pursuit of gunmen and U.S. forces developed into a fierce gunbattle early Friday in central Iraq, killing at least 10 people, apparently by mistake, local officials said. Nine Iraqis and one Jordanian died in the fighting, officials said. Iraqi police said that the shooting began when three gunmen in a BMW fired at their station in Fallujah, 43 miles (about 70 kilometers) west of Baghdad. The police said they pursued the men in unmarked vehicles and fired at them. U.S. forces fired on both the police and suspects, witnesses said. "The shooting started at about 1 in the morning," one witness said. "It got heavier and heavier. "I am 100 percent sure this is American ammunition," he said, holding up spent shell casings. Fallujah's mayor said the violence killed eight of the city's security personnel and left two others seriously wounded. One Iraqi policeman was killed and seven wounded, he said. In addition, personnel inside a nearby Jordanian military field hospital believed they were under attack and joined in the gunbattle, according to the Jordanian Information Ministry. "Unknown elements attacked the hospital," a ministry statement said. "The Jordanian military force guarding the hospital responded to the fired shots." Nabil al-Sherif, Jordan's information minister, said one Jordanian officer was killed and four Jordanian soldiers injured. An Iraqi who worked at the hospital also was wounded, al-Sherif said. U.S-led coalition officials said at least one U.S. soldier was wounded in small-arms fire and a rocket-propelled grenade attack near the Jordanian hospital. The coalition also said five "neutral individuals" were wounded. Video showed that the shelling heavily damaged the exterior of the Jordanian hospital. Jordan sent the hospital to Fallujah two months ago on King Abdullah II's orders to offer humanitarian aid to Iraqis. The Jordanian Embassy had moved into the same compound as the hospital after a deadly bombing last month on diplomatic headquarters in Baghdad, al-Sherif said. Witnesses said the vehicle that Iraqi police were pursuing got away. Violence also was reported in Ramadi, Abu Ghurayb, Baghdad and Samarra. Other developments• About 80 international fighters have been detained in two separate, but related incidents, in western Iraq, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday. The men were Saudi Arabians, Sudanese and Jordanians, the official said. The official could not say whether a firefight was involved, but said there were no U.S. casualties in either incident, which occurred Wednesday between the lakes west of Baghdad and the Syrian border. In addition to detaining the fighters, coalition forces seized a number of weapons, including shotguns, machines guns and sniper rifles as well as "significant" amounts of Iraqi and US currency, the official said. • Two U.S. soldiers were killed and seven coalition troops wounded early Friday in small-arms fire that broke out while they were conducting a raid in Ramadi, a central Iraqi town 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Baghdad, the coalition said. The soldiers were evacuated to a nearby medical facility, where they died from their wounds. • Two U.S. soldiers were wounded early Friday when their military police vehicle hit an explosive device, then came under small-arms fire, in a marketplace in Abu Ghurayb, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) west of Baghdad, according to the Coalition Press Information Center. The vehicle caught fire and was abandoned. One of the wounded soldiers was treated and released; the other remains under observation.
• In Baghdad, Iraqi police engaged in a gunfight with four men who were trying to steal a car, wounding one and killing one, witnesses said. The witnesses did not know what happened to the other two men. • Assailants fired mortars late Thursday at a Civil Military Operation Center in Samarra, 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Baghdad, the center said. No one was hurt in the attack, but a Humvee was damaged. • A U.S. soldier with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was wounded Thursday when his convoy was ambushed near Fallujah, a coalition military spokesman said. The two-vehicle convoy was struck by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire around Habbaniya, a town west of Fallujah, the spokesman said. Two military vehicles were destroyed. Video from the scene showed them charred and burning. (Full story) Through Thursday, 290 U.S. troops have been killed in the war in Iraq -- 185 in hostile action and 105 "nonhostile" incidents, which include accidents. (Special Report: Coalition casualties) More U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major combat May 1 than were killed during the invasion. (Interactive: U.S. troop deaths in Iraq) There is no reliable source for Iraqi civilian or combatant casualty figures, either during the period of major combat or after May 1. The Associated Press reported an estimated 3,240 civilian Iraqi deaths between March 20 and April 20, but the AP said that the figure was based on records of only half of Iraq's hospitals and the actual number was thought to be significantly higher. U.S. forces captured two loyalists to the former regime and two other Iraqis suspected of planning attacks against coalition forces in raids around Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, U.S. Central Command said Friday. Units from the 4th Infantry Division and Task Force Ironhorse conducted more than 280 patrols and seven raids, Central Command said, along with more than 60 joint patrols with Iraqi police, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and border guards. The regime loyalists, who were carrying 12 grenades when they were detained, were captured near Samarra on a tip from an Iraqi, Central Command said. • Bush praised soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division during a speech Friday at their home base of Fort Stewart, Georgia. The 3rd Infantry, which has deployed 16,000 troops in Iraq, has lost 40 members, more than any other division. Bush also repeated that he will ask Congress for $87 billion for security and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he vowed to ensure U.S. forces are given the resources they need. • A top Shiite cleric Friday criticized the United States for using the military to provide security in Iraq and rejected the call for more international forces. Abdel Aziz al-Hakim instead called for the U.S.-led coalition to act quickly to make Iraqis responsible for security. Hakim is the younger brother of the Shiite cleric slain in a bombing last month in Najaf. He also is a member of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council and his brother's successor as head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. (Full story) • A top Indian official said Friday that India cannot spare any troops to assist in Iraq despite repeated U.S. requests for help. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the senior defense official said no official decision had yet been made about Iraq. But referring to the army's commitments in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the official said, "The internal situation ... is such that we can't afford to send any troops for peacekeeping." (Full story) CNN's Ted Barrett, Dana Bash, Jason Bellini, Rym Brahimi, John King, Nic Robertson, Walter Rodgers, Rida Said, Barbara Starr and Ben Wedeman, and journalist Gordon Robison contributed to this report. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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