A joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol enforcing a curfew clashed with gunmen guarding the headquarters of a Shiite cleric, setting off a firefight that killed three Americans and 10 Iraqis, including two security men, the U.S. Central Command and witnesses said Friday. In Baghdad, an American soldier was killed and two were injured after a roadside bomb exploded Friday morning, The AP reported.
U.S. combat deaths since major fighting ended May 1 passed the 100 mark after Friday's clash and now stand at 101.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is drawing up plans to mobilize additional National Guard and Reserve forces for duty in Iraq, officials said Thursday, according to The AP.
The additional reservists have not been notified because Pentagon planners have yet to decide which units to call on.
The extra forces are to replace active-duty units due to return home. "There are combat support and combat service support units in the reserve component that probably have not been notified yet," Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
"They will be notified in plenty of time to give them all the notification they need and all the training," he conveyed. (Albawaba.com)
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