12 US Troops Said
Wounded Near Fallujah
8-1-3
AFP) -- An unknown
number of US troops were wounded when assailants fired several
rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a US convoy west of the rebel city of
Fallujah, witnesses said.
"Several rockets were fired on a convoy
and two jeeps and three armoured personnel carriers caught fire," witness
Mohammad Hamad al-Halboussi told AFP at the scene.
"The attackers
ran away and then came back to open fire with Kalashnikovs and pistols on
the American soldiers," he added.
The attack, which began at 7:00
am (0300 GMT), and the subsequent gun battle lasted about 90 minutes, in
the village of Albu Alwan, seven kilometres (four miles) west of Fallujah,
said Majid Ibrahim Allawi, adding that three Iraqi men were
arrested.
"I was arrested for two hours by American forces and I
saw 12 (US) soldiers on the ground."
"They were driven in the
direction of camp al-Habani," a former base of the Iraqi army now used by
US forces.
A US military spokeswoman contacted by AFP said she was
not aware of the attack.
At 10:30 am (0630 GMT), an AFP
correspondent witnessed an explosion on the road in Albu Alwan which
occurred 15 metres (yards) from a US patrol, but there were no
casualties.
Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim bastion 50 kilometers (30
miles) west of Baghdad, is the scene of frequent attacks on US forces
occupying Iraq and relations in the town have been strained since US
troops shot dead at least 16 demonstrators in
April.
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