Fighters in Iraq shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting south of Baghdad, killing two soldiers, the U.S. command said Monday. The attack occurred Sunday during fighting in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of the Iraqi capital, the military said in a brief statement, cited by the AP.
The U.S. command also said American soldiers and helicopters conducted four raids over the weekend in the Triangle of Death, killing 16 suspected al-Qaeda activists.
Meanwhile, fighters hit a British military camp with a mortar barrage on Monday, injuring four soldiers, officials said. The attack came about 4:30 a.m. at Camp Abu Naji in Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, said Calee Gedoll, a British Ministry of Defense spokeswoman in Basra.
One of the British soldiers was badly wounded in the leg, but the others' injuries were not as serious, said Holly Wheeler, a ministry spokeswoman in London.
Elsewhere, eight Iraqis died, including one in a roadside bomb attack that hit an oil tanker. A drive-by shooting killed four teachers who were heading to their school in a village near Balad Ruz, a town 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.
In central Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol missed the officers but killed one civilian, wounded four and set fire to an oil tanker parked nearby.
Roadside bombs exploded in two cities located north and south of Baghdad, killing one Iraqi civilian and a police officer, and wounding five Iraqis, police said.
