Six Troops Killed in Iraq Ammunition Explosion [View All]

Six Troops Killed in Iraq Ammunition Explosion

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WARSAW (Reuters) - Six soldiers from eastern Europe were killed while disposing of ammunition from an Iraqi depot in the Polish-run occupation zone on Tuesday, a Polish military spokesman said.



"They were working on destroying ammunition stocks from Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s army," said Colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski, spokesman for Poland's general staff.


"They're removing munitions from depots and detonating them, and while they were unloading them from a vehicle something exploded, most likely an air-launched bomb."


Gnatowski said three Slovaks, two Poles and one Latvian were killed in the explosion at about 9 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) near the city of al-Suvariya, and several others were wounded. He was unable to confirm the nationalities of the wounded.


Latvian Defense Ministry spokesman Ivars Grinbergs confirmed a Latvian soldier had been killed.


"I can confirm that a Latvian soldier was killed today in an explosion in Iraq (news - web sites)," he said, but declined any further comment.


A Polish-led multinational force, which includes troops from 17 countries -- mostly from Eastern Europe and Asia -- runs the south-central occupation zone around the holy city of Kerbala -- one of four such zones.


Poland has one of the largest contingents in the U.S.-led coalition, with 2,400 troops.


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