A British soldier was killed in southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) confirmed on Sunday. In a statement, the MoD said the soldier died in an "indirect fire attack" at the UK base at Basra Palace Saturday.
Elsewhere, a suicide truck bomb struck a building of a tribal gathering in the town of Taji north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least three people and injuring 10 others, an Interior Ministry source said. Meanwhile, a senior Iraqi interior ministry official has been abducted and killed by unknown gunmen in northeast Baghdad, the ministry said.
Ministry spokesman Major General Abdel-Karim Khalaf identified the victim as General Falah Khalaf.
In another development, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq said Sunday he has proposed cutting his troop levels and shifting next year to missions focused less on direct combat. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon told The Associated Press that if current trends hold, he would like to start this troop reduction and change in mission in Ninevah province, where he said Iraqi army forces already are operating nearly independently.
He has proposed shifting the province to Iraqi government control as early as August.
