Five US soldiers killed in suicide bombing north of Najaf

NEAR NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) Mar 29, 2003
Five US soldiers died Saturday morning when the driver of a taxi detonated a bomb at a roadblock north of the Iraqi city of Najaf, US Captain Andrew Valles said.

A taxicab drove up to the checkpoint and the driver waved his hand "indicating he needed some help," Valles said.

Five of the soldiers, from the Third Infantry Division, moved toward the car. Two trained their rifles on the rear of the vehicle, two on the front and the fifth approached the driver's side.

"As they aproached the car ... he set off the bomb," Valles said.

A military spokeswoman at US forward command headquaters in Doha, Qatar, later confirmed the car bombing but provided no casualty figures.

"We can confirm there was a car bomb explosion at a US checkpoint in Iraq early this morning outside An-Najaf," Major Randi Steffy said.

WAR.WIRE