COPENHAGEN- Danish soldiers engaged in a brief firefight with assailants who a ttacked them overnight in southern Iraq, the Danish army command said on Tuesday, adding that an Iraqi man was injured in the exchange. The Danes were patrolling the southern Iraqi town of Basra when they came under fire in the early hours of Tuesday, the statement said. The ensuing exchange lasted around five minutes, and the Danish troops then returned to their base at Camp Danevang in Basra. The injured Iraqi was taken to hospital in a civilian vehicle, the military said. It did not specify whether he was one of the attackers. Reinforcements from Camp Danevang were sent to the scene but found no trace of the assailants. Denmark has some 530 soldiers in Iraq, most of whom are stationed under British command near Basra in the south of the country. One Danish soldier has been killed in Iraq to date, in a friendly fire incident in August 2003. |