US troops killed seven men in a gun battle with an armed gang allegedly trying to steal fuel from a pipeline near the Iraqi town of Samarra, a US army spokesman said today. Later, a bomb exploded beside a US convoy in central Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding two others.
An Iraqi citizen led US troops last night to a group of about 40 men, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, who were trying to siphon fuel from a stretch of pipeline 11 miles north of Samarra, an army spokesman said.
The men, who had between 10 and 15 trucks, shot at the soldiers as they came forward to capture them, he said. The troops returned fire with rifles and a 125 mm cannon on a Bradley fighting vehicle, killing seven.
"Three fuel trucks and one transport truck were destroyed," the spokesman said. He said the thieves did not succeed in breaching the pipeline.
Officials in the US-led administration claim rampant fuel smuggling has contributed to chronic fuel shortages. Iraq has the world's second-biggest oil reserves.
In a statement later, the US military said the soldiers attacked in Baghdad were attached to the 1st Armored Division. The attack brought to 343 the number of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq since the start of the war.