Contractor killed in attack on US convoy

A civilian contractor working in Iraq was killed today when guerillas fired arocket-propelled grenade at a US convoy in Tikrit…

A civilian contractor working in Iraq was killed today when guerillas fired arocket-propelled grenade at a US convoy in Tikrit.

Two American soldiers were also injured in the attack in former dictatorSaddam Hussein's home town.

The contractor's nationality and employer were not immediately released.

He was the second to be killed this month in Tikrit. The last was a man killedby a roadside bomb as he worked for Kellogg Brown & Root.

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The company had been renovating Baiji refinery and pipeline terminus about 30miles north of Tikrit, about 125 miles north of Baghdad.

Tikrit lies in the Sunni Triangle, territory west and north of Baghdad, wheremost guerilla attacks on US troops have taken place.

A civilian worker also was killed earlier this month in Basra in the south ofthe country during a weekend of violence over electricity cuts and fuelshortages.

The former Gurkha soldier, who was working for a private securityfirm, was delivering mail and was apparently caught in a cross fire.

Hundreds of civilian workers in Iraq are employed by Kellogg Brown & Root, asubsidiary of Halliburton, a Houston-based oilfield services and constructioncompany.

Halliburton, the former company of Vice President Dick Cheney, has majorcontracts for reconstruction in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

AP