US Soldiers Clash with Turkmen: 13 Dead

According to information from Turkmen sources, American troops surrounded Telafer early yesterday morning on the grounds that militants of ‘Ensar Al- Islam’ were taking shelter in the city. Fighting soon erupted, leading to the deaths of 13 people, nine of whom were civilians. Over 50 were injured in the incident.

This is this second time in the past few days that U.S. troops have carried out an operation in Telafer. One child was killed during the earlier attack, and 21 people were injured.

The Ensar Al Islam group, whose leader Mela Krekar is of Kurdish origin and lives in Norway, was the target of intense U.S. attacks during the first days of the occupation. The attacks caused the group to lose much of its power in Northern Iraq.

Meanwhile, it was reported that during the clashes an American helicopter was forced down in the vicinity of Telafer. The two American pilots in the helicopter were killed by resisters.

Elsewhere, in Kerkuk (Kirkuk), a suicide car bomber attacked the police academy. 20 people were killed and 36 were injured in the attack. Kerkuk Police Chief Turhan Mustafa disclosed that 16 of the dead were policemen and 4 of them were civilians.

Mustafa also indicated that because nearly 500 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack many of the buildings and vehicles within a 150 meter radius suffered major damage.