Seven Iraqis and US soldier killed

TIRKIT: Seven Iraqis believed to have been stealing fuel from a pipeline were killed Sunday in a shootout with US troops near Samarra, north of Baghdad, the US military said on Monday.

Master Sergeant Robert Cargie, spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division based in Tikrit, said US troops approaching the pipeline had encountered about 40 men armed with AK-47 automatic rifles.

“As they tried to capture them, the soldiers came under fire. They returned fire, killing seven,” Master Sergeant Cargie said.

Iraqi civilians said that US soldiers shot and injured six Iraqi civilians in indiscriminate firing prompted after an American convoy was hit by a road side bomb in central Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding two others.

A US soldier was killed by a bomb in Baghdad on Monday, while Spain and the Iraqi Governing Council urged the United Nations to return to help Iraq.

The US military said the soldier was killed when the bomb exploded beside a US convoy. Two other soldiers were wounded. All three belonged to the US 1st Armoured Division.

The bombing brought to 343 the number of US soldiers killed by hostile fire in Iraq since American-led forces invaded in March to topple Saddam Hussein. —Agencies

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