WAR.WIRE
Seven US marines, three Iraqi national guard killed in Iraq bomb attack
 FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) Sep 06, 2004
 Seven US marines and three Iraqi national guard were killed and several wounded in a car bomb attack as they passed near the militant Iraqi rebel enclave of Fallujah, the US military and witnesses said.

Four Iraqi civilians were seriously wounded in ensuing clashes, while three US soldiers were also wounded in a separate attack in Baghdad, witnesses said.

"The explosion killed seven marines who were assigned to First Marine Expeditionary Force and three Iraqi national guard soldiers," the military said in a statement.

The deaths raise to 988 the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since the US-led forces invaded the country in March 2003.

"This desperate act of inhumanity will only serve to strengthen our commitment to the Iraqi people," the military said.

The car bombing by the town of Saqlawiya on the northern outskirts of Fallujah was the deadliest single attack against the Americans since five US soldiers were killed in a suicide car bombing on Samarra's national guard headquarters on July 8. That attack also killed six Iraqis.

An AFP correspondent, quoting witnesses, said at least eight marines were wounded. The US marines do not release figures on the wounded.

Witnesses reported seeing two US military vehicles ablaze after a loud explosion, while helicopters buzzed overhead. Marines blocked the road.

"I heard a very loud explosion I rushed to see what was going on. I saw two Humvees on fire. Then a US helicopter came down to carry the bodies and the wounded," said Othman Jabr, 28, from Saqlawiya.

US forces were stationed near Saqlawiya, a cauldron of anti-American sentiment, earlier this year and marines nicknamed their outpost Camp Suicide because of the nightly mortar fire.

Four civilians travelling in a car were wounded after the attack on the US convoy, medical sources said.

One of the wounded, Walid Thib, told AFP from Fallujah general hospital that US forces opened fire on the vehicle shortly after the attack.

"I was driving on the motorway when I saw lots of US soldiers and smoke. I didn't know what was happening and then the soldiers opened fire on my car," he said.

The US military said in a statement that three US soldiers were also wounded Monday when their convoy was rocked by an roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad.