Five troops of the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq were killed on Wednesday after their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb west of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said. The incident took place at al-Anbar province west of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, in another attack west of Baghdad, resistance fighters destroyed two cars, burning several passengers and dragging four bodies outside, dancing around them and making the victory sign, witnesses said, according to Reuters.
They said the cars were four-wheel drives, similar to those used by members of the U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq. One witness said attackers in the town of Fallujah shot at the vehicles with small arms.
According to reports, the bodies, believed to be foreign civilian contractors, killed in the Fallujah ambush, were mutilated by angry residents using shovels. However, there were conflicting reports regarding the number of people killed.
Several reports claimed eight foreigners were killed, while others said that up to six people in the cars had been killed. Other media reports, meanwhile, citing local residents, said that three or four foreigners died.
Dozens of Fallujah residents, holding shovels threw themselves on the charred bodies lying next to the two four-wheel-drive vehicles, earlier targeted by fighters on the main street, witnesses said.
The residents reportedly struck the bodies, cutting off parts of them while shouting "long live Islam." Later, two blackened and mangled corpses were hung from a green iron bridge across the Euphrates.
Elsewhere, four policemen and six civilians were injured when a car bomb exploded in the town of Baquba, located north of Baghdad.
Police officer Abbas Mahmud told AFP that four policemen and six pedestrians were injured in the attack which took place at 8:30 am (0530 GMT).
"The explosion was the result of a car bomb," Mahmud said, adding that a search of the vehicle yielded explosives, but no human remains.
The suicide bomber blew up explosives in his car when he was near a convoy of Iraq government vehicles, police said. The attacked convoy was used to transport the Diala provincial governor, Abdullah al-Joubori, but he was elsewhere at the time.
Three of the injured were al-Joubori's bodyguards, the three others bystanders, Hossein added. The bomber died in the attack. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
