Four U.S. Marines died in two attacks in Western Iraq on Tuesday, the American army stated on Thursday. Another soldier was killed in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, an al-Qaeda-led Iraqi organization has issued an Internet statement saying the group decided to kill four Russian Embassy workers after Moscow declined to meet the organization's demand to pull troops out of Chechnya.
The headline on the Web posting Wednesday indicated the four had been killed, declaring: "God's law was implemented against the Russian diplomats." However, the text of the message said only that the "Mujahedeen Shura Council decided to carry out the death sentences."
The al-Qaeda in Iraq led Mujahedeen Shura Council declared that Moscow "put no value on the lives of its citizens."
