Two U.S. security contractors killed in Iraq
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two Americans working for a company that provides security for the U.S. Embassy were killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the embassy said Sunday.
The pair, and a third American contractor who was wounded in the blast, were attacked while riding in a car Saturday between Baghdad and Hilla, embassy spokesman Robert Callahan said.
The contractors were employed by Blackwater Security, he said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine began pulling troops out of Iraq as part of a phased withdrawal of its complete 1,650-man contingent, the sixth largest in the U.S.-led coalition.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said 150 of its troops from a company based near As Suwayrah left Iraq on Saturday, according to The Associated Press, starting a phased pullout ordered earlier this month by President Viktor Yushchenko.
The pullout is to be completed by October, the Defense Ministry said.
The decision to send troops was made by former President Leonid Kuchma in what was widely considered an effort to repair relations with Washington.
U.S.-Ukrainian relations were damaged by allegations that Kuchma had approved the sale of radar systems and other military equipment to Saddam Hussein's regime in violation of U.N. sanctions.
Ukraine has lost 17 soldiers in Iraq, according to The Associated Press, and the deployment is deeply unpopular among people in the former Soviet republic.
Possible mistreatment probed
A U.S. Army colonel has started an investigation into the "possible mistreatment of civilian detainees" by six members of a U.S. Army unit under his command, according to a statement Saturday from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
Col. Augustus L. Collins, commander of the 155th Brigade Combat Team, initiated the probe after a preliminary inquiry.
"The soldiers are under investigation after it was discovered that two Iraqi civilians received minor injuries while being transported to a detention facility during an operation on February 27. The civilian detainees received immediate medical treatment," the statement said. The force is based at Camp Falluja.
Other developments
A U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Friday night, the U.S. military said. The death brought the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 1,514, including 1,157 in hostile action and 357 in nonhostile activity, according to the U.S. military.Military officials also confirmed that Thursday's suicide bombing in Mosul killed at least 50 Iraqi civilians and wounded nearly 80 others. The bomber attacked a funeral procession near a Shiite Muslim mosque. In a statement Friday, the U.S. military said the scene was "reminiscent of the recent and horrific Al Hilla market bombing" last week -- the deadliest single insurgent attack of the Iraq war, which killed at least 127 people.CNN's Kevin Flower contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
