Officials: 6 Iraqis killed in friendly fire

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Officials: 6 Iraqis killed in friendly fire
By Anna Johnson - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 3, 2008 12:29:15 EDT

BAGHDAD — A friendly fire shootout early Wednesday between Iraqi security forces and American troops killed six Iraqis north of Baghdad, police and security officials said.

Iraqi forces at a checkpoint started shooting at approaching American military boats on the Tigris River in Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad, the Iraqi officials said. They didn’t realize the boats, which had their lights turned off, were American, they said.

The U.S. troops fired back, killing two Iraqi soldiers, two police officers and two U.S.-backed Sunni tribesmen, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release the information to the media.

Two American helicopters later fired on a one-room house on an island in the river, the Iraqis added.

The U.S. military confirmed that coalition forces were in the area conducting an operation against suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants when an “incident involving weapons fire” took place between the U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_iraqfriendlyfire_090308/%2e