Iraqi firefight leaves 12 dead
A battle between American soldiers and Iraqi gunmen took place overnight in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala.
Three US soldiers and nine Iraqis died in the gunfight, which involved Iraqis guarding a senior Shi’ite cleric and a joint patrol of US and Polish peacekeepers.
Karbala has been under a 21:00 local time curfew since Tuesday and the passing patrol reportedly ordered the Iraqi gunmen guarding Mahmoud al-Hassani’s headquarters inside.
The gunmen, of which there are believed to have been at least 20, refused to enter the offices and a firefight broke out at around midnight local time (21:00 GMT), during which 12 people died, two of them Iraqi policemen.
No Polish peacekeepers were hurt.
There have been a number of clashes in the city in recent weeks between rival Shia Muslim factions.
Karbala lies 85 kilometres (50 miles) south of Baghdad.
The deaths take the number of US troops killed in Iraq since the end of major hostilities was declared on May 1st to 100.
