A Danish soldier died after being shot during a gun battle with armed Iraqis whose truck had been stopped in the course of a routine patrol in southern Iraq, Denmark’s army command said Sunday.
The soldier was the first Dane to be killed in Iraq since Denmark sent a contingent of some 400 soldiers this summer to join the stabilisation force in Basra.
Two Iraqis were killed in Saturday's shooting, one was injured and six were arrested.
The Danish soldier’s unit was checking a truck near Basra when armed Iraqis inside opened fire, according to officials.
The soldier was taken by helicopter to a British field hospital in Shaibah, where he died.
Meanwhile, repairs to Iraq's key oil export pipeline to Turkey, cut by saboteurs, may take as long as a month, the United States army said Sunday.
"The North Oil Company is on site to make repairs which are estimated to take at least two weeks to one month," according to army spokeswoman Specialist Nicole Thompson. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
