Three American service members were killed in two separate incidents in central and northern Iraq on Saturday morning, the U.S. military confirmed, but few details were immediately released.
A statement from U.S. Forces - Iraq said two U.S. service members were killed and another was injured while conducting operations in northern Iraq. A second statement said a third U.S. service member was killed in central Iraq.
While the U.S. military refused to provide additional details, saying the details were being held pending notification of next of kin, Iraqi police said three U.S. troops were involved in a shooting incident in the northern city of Mosul. Other details were not available, although media reports indicated that the U.S. service members in Mosul were struck by gunfire from two Iraqi soldiers.
The fatalities raise the total number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far this year to five, according to a BNO News count based on official information. A total of 60 U.S. service members were killed in Iraq last year, most of whom died as the result of non-hostile incidents.
to be killed in Iraq were 38-year-old Sgt. Jose M. Cintron Rosado and 41-year-old Spc. Jose A Delgado Arroyo. They were killed in Taji on January 2 when insurgents attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device (IED).
Copyright 2010 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved.