Two US civilians working for the American occupation were killed along with their Iraqi translator after their car was stopped at a makeshift checkpoint by men dressed as Iraqi policemen, a Polish military spokesman said Wednesday.
The incident took place outside Hillah in south-central Iraq on Tuesday night, Col. Robert Strzelecki said, according to The AP.
Polish troops detained five people and found the victims' bodies in the car, he added.
Meanwhile, four Iraqi policemen died in a shootout with a local militia. According to the AP, Iraqi policemen tried Tuesday night to enter a building where a Shiite militia was holding two civilians in the city of Nasiriyah. In a shootout, four Iraqi policemen were killed and two injured.
The standoff came to an end after Italian security forces stormed the building, rescued the civilians and detained eight militia members. One Italian officer was slightly wounded.
Elsewhere, blasts and small arms fire were heard Wednesday morning in central Baghdad, while the U.S. military said that a mortar round fired by American soldiers in the north earlier this week missed its target and killed an Iraqi civilian.
A U.S. military spokesman could not confirm the cause of Wednesday's blasts in Baghdad but said they may have been controlled bursts to destroy captured stockpiles of ammunition and ordnance.
In Baqouba, northwest of Baghdad, a bomb exploded near the offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the largest Shiite political party in the country, after 6:30 a.m. local time. One person was injured and the building was damaged. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
