Five US troops killed in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AFP) — A suicide car bomb and roadside bombings against have killed five US troops, including three marines, the American military announced on Tuesday.
Two marines were killed and three others wounded when a bomber slammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint near the western Iraqi city of Ramadi at around 7:30 am (0430 GMT), the military said.
Two Iraqi policemen and 24 civilians were also wounded in the attack near the city, the capital of Anbar province, which was once the symbol of Sunni Arab insurgency against US forces.
A third marine was killed and another wounded in a separate roadside bomb attack in Basra on Monday, the military said in a separate statement.
This is the first US military loss in Basra since Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown against Shiite militiamen there on March 25.
US forces have been sent to Basra to support Iraqi troops after fierce clashes broke out in the port city following the crackdown.
Basra and southern Iraq were under the overall command of British troops who late last year moved into one base near the city airport after handing over the province to Iraqi forces.
Another roadside bomb attack killed two US soldiers and wounded another two, as well as three Iraqis, in north-central Salaheddin province on Monday, the US military said.
The bomb detonated "during operations" in the province, the statement said without elaborating.
The Iraqis injured comprised two members of an "Awakening" anti-Qaeda front and an interpreter.
The latest deaths bring the US military's overall toll since the March 2003 invasion to 4,044, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org.
The military has lost 32 troops since the start of this month.
Meanwhile, the US military announced it had killed five Shiite militiamen in Baghdad's Sadr City where they have been clashing since the Basra assault began last month.
On Monday, it said a US aerial weapons team fought with two "criminals" armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers at around 9:00 pm (1800 GMT), killing them both and destroying their launchers.
Around 10:00 pm, a group of soldiers was hit by a roadside bomb followed by small arms fire in the area, it added. "Soldiers returned the fire and killed three criminals."
The deaths brought to 12 the number of militiamen killed by US forces in Sadr City on Monday.
The Basra crackdown triggered a wave of firefights across Shiite regions of Iraq, including Sadr City, the bastion of anti-American leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
Around 335 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the Sadr City clashes, according to an AFP tally based on casualty figures reported by Iraqi and US officials.
A significant number of US soldiers killed in April have died in clashes in and around Sadr City.
An Iraqi media watchdog, meanwhile, reported Tuesday that three staff members of Beladi TV were shot and wounded after being deliberately targeted by gunmen in eastern Baghdad on Monday.
"A group of armed men carrying pistols and automatic guns targeted our colleagues and fired at them," the Iraqi Journalists Freedom Observatory said in a statement.
Cameraman Hameed Hashim was hit in the stomach and mouth and would undergo an emergency operation at Baghdad's Al-Kindi hospital, a medic there said.
Reporter Hassan al-Rikabi and driver Azim Habeeb were also wounded in Monday's attack in the capital's Al-Rubaie street.
Beladi TV is owned by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa Party.
The watchdog, which monitors violence against the media, said 233 journalists and media workers have been killed in Iraq since 2003.
