NEWS ALERT: 3 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN ATTACK ON IRAQ BASE

Three US soldiers killed in attack on Iraq base

(AFP)17 July 2009
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BAGHDAD - Three American soldiers have been killed in an attack on their base outside the southern Iraqi port city of Basra, the US military said on Friday.

“Three Multi-National Division-South soldiers were killed when Contingency Operating Base Basra was attacked by indirect fire at approximately 9:15 pm (0615 GMT) on July 16,” a military statement said, adding that the incident was under investigation.

The US military generally refers to mortars and rockets as “indirect fire.”

Thursday’s deaths marked the first US military personnel to die as a result of violence since American troops withdrew from Iraq’s urban centres on June 30, as part of a security pact between Washington and Baghdad that calls on US forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

In total, 4,326 US soldiers have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org.