- Title: IRAQ: AMBULANCE ATTACKED DURING STREET BATTLE BETWEEN IRAQI'S AND U.S TROOPS
- Date: 19th August 2003
- Summary: (U3) TIKRIT, IRAQ (AUGUST 19, 2003) (REUTERS) (NIGHT VIEWS - ALL MATERIAL SHOT WITH NIGHTSCOPE SO IT IS GREEN-TINTED) 1. WIDE OF EMERGENCY VEHICLE WITH FLASHING LIGHT/U.S. SOLDIER IN FOREGROUND 0.04 2. SLV AMBULANCE STOPPED - INJURED PERSON ON GROUND 0.09 3. CLOSE OF BULLET HOLES IN AMBULANCE WINDSHIELD (2 SHOTS) 0.18 4. WIDE OF U.
- Embargoed: 3rd September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TIKRIT, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA74YJOXYYGVZVDCAHA2FN3Y1R
- Story Text: Iraqis have attacked U.S. soldiers using an
ambulance as cover, the U.S. army said.
U.S. soldiers shot at an Iraqi ambulance during a
battle with attackers who had opened fire on an American
base, the U.S. Army said on Tuesday (August 19).
Officers of the 4th Infantry Division, based in deposed
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, said two
Iraqis were wounded in the incident on Monday (August 18)
night.
Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell of the 1st Battalion
22nd Infantry Regiment, said armed men in a vehicle used an
ambulance to mask their movements after curfew.
He said that reports from both Iraqis and soldiers said
the vehicle engaged soldiers from the vicinity of the
ambulance. The soldiers returned fire resulting in the
wounding of an Iraqi male in the ambulance and the slight
wounding of a second man.
He said the vehicle which attacked U.S. soldiers had
escaped.
Later, 4th Infantry Division spokeswoman Major Josslyn
Aberle said the incident began when attackers in two
vehicles opened fire on a guard tower at the U.S. base in
Tikrit. U.S. soldiers returned fire and pursued the vehicles.
Aberle said an AK-47 assault rifle was found inside the
ambulance. Asked whether shots had been fired from the
ambulance, she said she could not be certain.
The U.S. military does not regularly announce deaths or
woundings of Iraqi civilians by American forces unless the
incident has been reported by journalists. But human rights
groups say there have been numerous incidents of civilians
being mistakenly shot or caught in the crossfire.
On Sunday (August 17), award-winning Reuters cameraman
Mazen Dana, a Palestinian, was shot dead by a U.S. soldier
while filming outside a prison on the western outskirts of
Baghdad. The U.S. military said the incident was a "tragic
accident".
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