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Two U.S. soldiers wounded outside Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Early Friday, two U.S. soldiers were wounded when their military police vehicle hit an explosive device, then came under small arms fire, according to the Coalition Press Information Center. The incident happened in a marketplace in Abu Ghoreib, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) west of Baghdad, around 12:42 a.m. (4:42 p.m. ET Thursday). The vehicle caught fire and was abandoned. One of the wounded soldiers was treated and released, the other is still under observation.
Hours earlier, assailants fired mortars at a Civil Military Operation Center in Samarra, north of Baghdad, according to the center. No one was wounded in the attack, which took place shortly after 9 p.m. (1 p.m. ET). However, one Humvee was damaged. The assailants fled the scene. Samarra is about 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Baghdad. In June, a mortar attack on the CMOC in Samarra killed one Iraqi and injured 12 others, although no U.S. troops were hurt, according to U.S. Central Command. The center assists with humanitarian efforts by linking the military with governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations in Iraq. Also on Thursday, a soldier with the 3rd Armored Cavalry was wounded when his convoy was ambushed in Habbaniyah, west of Baghdad, a coalition military spokesman said. The two-vehicle convoy was struck by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire in the vicinity of Habbaniyah, a town west of Fallujah, the spokesman said. Two military vehicles were destroyed. Video from the scene showed them charred and burning. When other U.S. forces arrived on the scene, people inside nearby homes began shooting at them -- and the military returned fire, the spokesman said. U.S. military officials said they did not know whether anyone inside the homes was hit in the firefight. A small crowd gathered at the scene celebrating the attack on U.S. troops. The crowd shouted in Arabic, "God is great," and "Iraq, we sacrifice our lives and blood for you." In an apparent non-hostile incident, a U.S. soldier was killed Thursday and two others injured when a tire exploded on the heavy truck carrying the soldiers, according to the center. The incident happened in Balad, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Baghdad. Since the war in Iraq began in March, 290 U.S. troops have been killed -- 185 in hostile action and 105 non-hostile incidents, including Thursday's death. -- Journalist Rida Said contributed to this report.
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