Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Separate Attacks, Precision Strikes Continue

A soldier with the 13th Corps Support Command, a Fort Hood, Texas, based unit, was killed and two others injured during a convoy attack. The military said that an unknown type of explosive device was used in the attack that happened near Fallujah Oct. 6.

The injured soldiers were taken to the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad where one later died of wounds.

The attack was the second this week on the unit's convoy. On Oct. 4 another 13th COSCOM soldier was killed, and two others injured in a similar attack near Baghdad.

The military also reported today that a soldier with the 1st Infantry Division was killed and a civilian interpreter was wounded in an attack near Bayji on Oct. 6. The military said that anti-Iraqi forces attacked a U.S. patrol with an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire.

The Iraqi civilian was taken to a multinational force medical facility for treatment and is in stable condition.

One man was detained for questioning after a map of an MNF base was found in his home located near the attack site.

The names of the soldiers killed are being withheld pending next of kin notification.

In other news, Multinational Force Iraq units conducted more precision strikes this week, including one on a suspected safe house used by associates of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The strike occurred Oct. 6 on a safe house located in southwest of Fallujah.

Sources confirmed Zarqawi leaders were meeting at the house at the time of the strike, and that they were planning attacks against Iraqi civilians, and Iraqi security and multinational forces.

Previous strikes included one Oct. 3 in Fallujah that severely damaged a building where al-Zarqawi associates were moving weapons, according to military reports. The military reported that secondary explosions indicated that the building was being used as a huge weapons and ammunition cache.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)