4 Jordanians killed by US troops in Baghdad

AMMAN: A taxi-driver and his three fellow Jordanian passengers were killed in Baghdad early on Thursday as US troops opened fire after their car failed to stop at a checkpoint, his taxi firm here said.

Driver Ali Imad Abdel Khader was leaving the Iraqi capital headed for Amman when the incident took place, Said Mohammad of the company Abul Ezz said.

“When the car reached the outskirts of Baghdad at around five in the morning, it came under fire from American troops at the checkpoint which caused it to spin out of control and crash into an armoured vehicle,” he said. “The four men were killed on the spot,” said Mr Mohammad, quoting other taxi-drivers who witnessed the incident. He said the driver “probably did not see the American checkpoint in the dark and didn’t stop,” causing the soldiers to open fire.

In other violence on Thursday, an Iraqi doctor was shot and killed in Basra by unidentified attacker(s), hospital officials said. A bomb exploded outside a police station in Kirkuk, wounding one officer. A bomb buried in a road damaged a US military vehicle near Baqubah, a witness said. Earlier, US forces said they engaged on Tuesday a group of people they claimed infiltrated from Syria, killing a few of them and detaining others, as a US helicopter hit by small arms fire was forced to land. In another incident, Iraqi police forces said they foiled an attempt to blow a main bridge frequently used by coalition troops near Kirkuk. In Baghdad, two mortar shells hit the city centre late on Wednesday near the headquarters of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, a military spokesman said. —AFP/Reuters/AP

Home | National