Four more US marines have been killed in Iraq's Al-Anbar province, the US military said Wednesday, taking its death toll in the region to 14 in just over one week.
US officials suspect alleged Al Qaeda activist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi and his supporters are operating in Fallujah and surrounding Al-Anbar province.
"Four marines assigned to First Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in action July 6 in the Al-Anbar province while conducting security and stability operations," the US military said in a statement.
On Monday, two marines were killed in action and one died later from wounds received during an operation in the area.
An Islamist website later carried a statement attributed to al Zarqawi group claiming responsibility for the deadly attack.
"With God's help, about 100 of the Omar battle lions laid an ambush Monday for the soldiers of Satan, the Americans, in Al-Saqlawiya region, west of Baghdad," said the statement signed by Tawhid al Jihad's military wing.
"Thanks be to God, the toll was two helicopters down, including an MH-47 Chinook, and two Humvees destroyed with their occupants on board," it said on the a website.
Also Wednesday, one U.S. soldier was killed and three others injured in a road accident, a U.S. military statement said. It added the accident occurred shortly after midnight on a road near Ramadi, west of Baghdad. A tire on a military truck blew out and a second truck swerved on to the median, rolled over and burst into flames, the statement said.
Meanwhile, two Iraqi national guards were killed Wednesday and 10 wounded in street clashes in central Baghdad when activists attacked Iraqi security forces and US soldiers, a national guard officer said.
"Two national guards were killed and ten wounded," Lieutenant Abu Noor was cited as saying.
Witnesses said the fight broke out at around 11:00 a.m. (local time) as activists fired guns and rocket launchers on Haifa Street on the western side of the Tigris River.
Elsewhere, five Iraqi soldiers were killed in a rocket attack late Tuesday on their base near Taji at the northern entrance to Baghdad, a United States military spokesperson said.
"A rocket attack killed five Iraqi soldiers near Taji at 11 p.m.(local time)," the spokesperson said on Wednesday morning.
Taji is the site of a major US army base and Iraqi security facilities and has become a bastion of anti-American sentiment. (Albawaba.com)
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