Three U.S. Soldiers, Two Iraqi Policemen Killed In Karbala

"The attackers, who are bodyguards of local (Shiite) religious leader Mahmud al-Hassani, used RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and AK47 rifles. They were about 20 to 30 attackers," claimed the American military spokesman.

He added that two Iraqi policemen were also killed and four others injured in the attack.

Although Iraqi police officers are drawn from the local population, those opposed to the U.S. military occupation accuse them of being collaborators and have been the target of a series of attacks since the U.S.-led forces took control of the country, the BBC News Online had said.

Clashes

Manos said the extent of casualties among the assailants could not immediately be established.

But a member of Hassani’s militia told AFP in Karbala that U.S. troops killed several people in the overnight shootout.

The militiaman, who would not give his name, said they had been patrolling the impoverished neighborhood around Al-Abbas mosque in defiance of an overnight curfew imposed by the occupation forces following clashes between rival Shiite factions Monday.

The American military spokesman argued that Hassani’s forces "were among the parties that took part in the clashes on Monday night among local forces.

"I do not believe that Hassani’s forces were on Moqtada Sadr’s side," he said, referring to the firebrand Shiite leader who has called for a time-framed end to occupation.

Karbala, 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Baghdad, is one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities and was the scene of a major pilgrimage last week.

Soldier Wounded

In another development, a U.S. soldier was seriously wounded in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, some 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, Friday when his convoy was hit by an explosive device, a witness said.

"The convoy was crossing the area of Ameriyat al-Fallujah (15 kilometers, or 10 miles, south of Fallujah) at 11:30 am (0830 GMT) when we heard three explosions," Hussein Hammadi, 28, told AFP.

"One jeep was damaged and its driver, an American soldier, was seriously wounded," said Hammadi, a farmer.

The U.S. military did not immediately confirm the incident, but U.S. troops regularly come under attack in Fallujah.

The deaths took to at least 100 the number of U.S. troops killed in action since President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq on May 1, according to an AFP count.

But observers said the number is much less than the real death toll of almost daily attacks on U.S. forces, with the Americans always rushing to remove all fatalities from the scene of attack.

The attack came one day after Washington got a unanimous support from all 15 members of the U.N. Security Council, including Syria, for its new Iraq resolution, but with no pledges for military or financial contribution to its occupation authority in the war-ravaged country amidst fears of the deteriorating security situation.

The resolution did not reportedly met Iraqis’ expectations, as it failed to draw a timetable for the U.S.-led occupation forces to pack up and leave or handing over authority to the Iraqis.