Gunmen have killed four more American soldiers north and west of Baghdad, the military said on Monday.
"Two Task Force Lightning Soldiers were killed by enemy gunfire in Salaheddin province Sunday," a statement said. A marine also died on Saturday and another on Sunday during combat operations in the western province of Anbar, a second statement.
The firefight in Samarra saw also a dozen gunmen killed, the American military said. Some 30 masked gunmen attacked a U.S. outpost Sunday, triggering the gunbattles that ended when a U.S. jet bombed a house where gunmen had taken refuge. In addition to the dead, 14 gunmen were captured and American forces seized four assault rifles, one sniper rifle and one machine gun, the military said.
Iraqi officials said eight people were killed. According to the AP, police and hospital officials identified the civilians as Mohammed Abdul-Wahab, his mother, wife and five of his children. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly told AP that he only had reports of two civilian casualties, a male and a female who were in a taxi moving through the area during the initial firefight.
In the same province, the governor, Hamad Hamoud Shagtti, escaped a roadside bomb attack on his convoy Monday, his office said.
Two nearly simultaneous blasts went off as his convoy was en route to a university. A car was damaged and a bodyguard injured, but the governor was unharmed, said his spokesman, Maj. Muthanna al-Qaisi.
