In Iraq, at least nine American soldiers were wounded in two separate incidents on Sunday afternoon, a military spokesman said Monday.
The US military played down the severity of the fighting, however the number of wounded is among the highest for a single day since the official end to the major combat, on May 1.
Trucks and armored vehicles with the 3-7 Cavalry, assigned to the Fourth Brigade of the Army's Third Infantry Division, came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades in Mushaheda, some 25 miles north of the capital Baghdad, as the group traveled on the main highway. Two soldiers were seriously wounded, though their injuries were not life-threatening, and six others received minor injuries, the American military spokesman in Baghdad said, according to the New York Times.
Meanwhile, another unit of American soldiers also met grenade fire in the village of Dujayl, around 18 miles north of Mushaheda, and at least one soldier was injured. The extent of his injuries remains unknown, said Capt. John Morgan, the military spokesman.
"It is serious," he said. "But it is amazing that no one was killed, which is because of their training and equipment."
Only 12 hours earlier, the military had denied that the attacks occurred at all. Petty Officer Anthony Dallas, a spokesman for Central Command in Florida said Sunday night after a Reuters report of the skirmishes that "there was no attack. It did not happen." A charred truck on the highway "caught fire due to mechanical failure," he said. "No Americans were injured." (Albawaba.com)
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