Gunmen disguised as police shot to death two American coalition officials and their Iraqi translator south of Baghdad after stopping their car at a roadblock, the Polish military said Wednesday. The Americans were the first U.S. civilians from the occupation authority to be killed in Iraq. L. Paul Bremer, the top administrator in Iraq, has requested that the FBI investigate the slayings of the Americans late Tuesday on a road outside the town of Hillah, 35 miles south of Baghdad, said Dan Senor, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition.
It was not known whether the gunmen were specifically targeting coalition officials. "We're starting to form views on that," Senor said.
| Not surprising if the jihadis are looking for softer targets -- civilian workers with no/little protection are certainly soft. |
And it was unclear if the Americans were traveling with security. Coalition guidelines discourage the movement of staffers after dark. The roads around Hillah have seen a number of attacks on vehicles, some of them fatal. An officer with the Polish military, which patrols south-central Iraq, said the gunmen were disguised as policemen and stopped the Americans' car at a checkpoint. The attackers shot the passengers and took the vehicle, Col. Robert Strzelecki said. Polish troops later intercepted the car, arrested five Iraqis in it and found the bodies inside, said Strzelecki, speaking from the Camp Babylon headquarters of the Polish-led multinational force in Iraq.
| "You boys are in a heap o' trouble now!" |
The Americans, who were Defense Department employees, were the first U.S. civilians from the Coalition Provisional Authority to be killed in Iraq, Senor said.
| Condolences to the families. And those five Iraqis should be meat on a stick. |
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