3 US soldiers killed in suicide attack

AS SAYLIYA CAMP: A civilian vehicle blew up at a checkpoint manned by US-led forces in Iraq, killing three soldiers, a pregnant woman and the driver, in what US officials said on Friday was a suicide attack.

“Last night approximately 18 km from Haditha dam in Iraq, a civilian vehicle approached a coalition checkpoint. A pregnant female stepped out of the vehicle and began screaming in fear,” a statement from war headquarters in Qatar said. “At this point the civilian vehicle exploded, killing three coalition force members who were approaching the vehicle and wounding two others. The pregnant female and the driver of the vehicle were also killed in the attack.”

The nationality of the troops was unclear. The incident was northwest of Baghdad in an area where Special Forces are present but where US-led forces are thin on the ground.

“We are treating it as another desperate act of a dying regime that knows they’re in trouble. It’s unconventional warfare that continues to be used by the Iraqi regime,” US Marine Captain Stewart Upton told reporters. Asked if it was considered a suicide attack, he said: “Yes.” A number of Iraqi civilians have been shot by nervous troops at checkpoints, when vehicles failed to stop.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s official INA news agency said the car explosion that killed coalition troops northwest of Baghdad was a suicide attack carried out by two Iraqi women. —AFP

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