Fighters attacked an Iraqi checkpoint south of the capital on Saturday, killing five national guard soldiers and wounding five more, hospital officials said.
The five were killed at a checkpoint early Saturday in Mahmudiyah, some 30 kms south of Baghdad, said Dawoud Hussein, a local hospital director. Five more soldiers were wounded in the attack, he said.
Meanwhile, Bahrain's king said Saturday that his country is willing to send a naval force to help safeguard Iraqi territorial waters, if asked by the new Iraqi government, the official Bahrain News Agency reported.
"Bahrain is ready to resume its contributions with naval forces to help secure the Iraqi waters and also train the Iraqi forces in this field if the new Iraqi government asked for it," Sheik Hamad announced while visiting the general-directorate of the Bahrain Defense Force.
His announcement came after Jordan and Yemen offered also to send troops to Iraq. No Arab nation has so far contributed soldiers to the U.S.-led occupation.
But on Saturday a senior Yemeni government official clarified that offer, telling the Saba news agency that the country would only send troops after U.S.-led forces have left.
"Yemen is willing to participate in an international peacekeeping force ... after the coalition troops withdraw and Iraq regains its full sovereignty, and if the brothers in Iraq ask us to," the unnamed official said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
