12 killed in fight with U.S.-led forces in Iraq
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-03 12:55

U.S. forces killed 12 people and wounded two others, including a six year old girl, in a firefight and bombing close to the Syrian border on Monday, the U.S. military said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said six soldiers of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq were wounded in the fight against suspected members of al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, which is headed by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Coalition forces followed a truck which drove to a small camp from a suspected insurgent location at the town of al Qaim, 200 miles northwest of Baghdad and 1 mile from the Syrian border, the U.S. military said.

The truck was loaded with material from a shed and tent at the camp and several adult males also boarded the truck before it headed back toward al Qaim, the statement said.

"Before the occupants in the vehicle could reach their destination the commander of the operation decided to interdict the vehicle; upon stopping the truck, the suspected insurgents opened fire on Coalition forces," it said.

"A firefight ensued with nine enemy adult males killed in action and one enemy wounded."

The U.S. military said a six-year-old girl "sustained a minor injury to her right calf and to her head" and a suspected insurgent was also wounded.

A U.S. military spokesman told Reuters the wounded girl and suspected insurgent were taken to a coalition medical facility and that the girl would be treated by a female doctor.

All of the nine men killed were heavily armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, the U.S. military said.

Three more people were killed by a coalition airstrike on the camp.

Coalition forces found fake identification cards, foreign currency and other things which the U.S. military said linked the people at the camp and on the truck to Zarqawi's network.

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