In Iraq, a Polish soldier was killed and three others injured by a remote-controlled mine which exploded overnight, Polish radio Zet reported on Thursday.
Defense Ministry spokeswoman Agnieszka Kucharska confirmed the casualties but said she had no further details on the incident, including exactly when it happened.
"One is dead and three are wounded," Kucharska said.
In the meantime, fighting between Iraqi fighters and American forces west of Baghdad has killed two U.S. Marines, the military said in a statement Thursday.
The two Marines died in clashes Wednesday in Anbar province, the statement said. The U.S. military had initially said two coalition troops were killed during heavy fighting Wednesday in the Anbar city of Ramadi, but it had declined to reveal their nationalities.
Multiple U.S. military camps in Ramadi came under mortar attack Wednesday and two U.S. helicopters made emergency landings after coming attack from small arms before returning to their base, the military said.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed in Jeddah the idea of dispatching Arab or Muslim troops to Iraq to serve either as part of the US-led multinational force or separately.
"We discussed the Saudi initiative. It is interesting. We welcomed the idea to have Moslem troops either part or separate from the coalition forces," Powell told a press conference after holding talks with Iraq's Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah.
Asked by reporters Wednesday about the prospect of sending Arab or Muslim troops to Iraq, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said, "We had preliminary discussions, and we will be having further discussions later on."
However, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters that Powell's discussions with Saudi leaders had dealt with facilitating "the deployment of troops from Moslem countries not bordering Iraq to help... Iraqis establish security." (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
