A blast took place in Baghdad, on Sunday morning, killing two, injuring five people and leaving wreckage near a bridge over the River Tigris. According to press reports, a minibus and a coach were seen wrecked near the al-Shuhada bridge, after the explosion.
In another incident, U.S. troops in Iraq shot and killed a Turkish truck driver and wounded two others after their vehicle failed to stop at a checkpoint near Baghdad,
one of the wounded men said Sunday on Turkish television.
Speaking on Turkey's NTV network, Ali Musluoglu said he was riding in a vehicle carrying prefabricated houses for the U.S. military when the alleged incident happened late Saturday outside the Iraqi capital.
According to Musluoglu, the truck was ordered to halt by
U.S. troops after it passed a checkpoint that Turkish
driver Faysal Demir failed to notice.
Musluoglu said several American soldiers opened fire when the two Turks and an Iraqi interpreter tried to get out of the vehicle, killing Demir and wounding the other two.
"If it wasn't for the Iraqi police who intervened, we
would all be dead," he told NTV.
Elsewhere, a U.S. Marine was killed in action in Anbar province, the U.S. command said Sunday.
The Marine, who was not identified by name or unit, was
killed Saturday, the command said. He was assigned to the
1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
Meanwhile, Britain is investigating reports that its troops mutilated the bodies of Iraqi civilians after a gun battle last month, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday.
A ministry spokeswoman said Britain "categorically denied" British forces had abused the bodies after the firefight near the southern Iraqi town of Majar-al-Kabir on May 14.
"We are investigating evidence that has been given to us and should the outcome of that require it, we will commence a formal investigation into the incident, but at the moment we have no reason to believe that that's the case," she added.
The Sunday Telegraph newspaper said an Iraqi judge had ordered that some of the bodies be exhumed for further examination after families of the dead lodged formal complaints. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
