| U.S. troops may have traded shots with Iranian guards during a March 14 incident near the Iraq border, a senior U.S. official said at a Baghdad news conference today. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for Combined Joint Task Force 7, told reporters the U.S. 4th Infantry Division reported that one of its border patrols in the northeastern part of Iraq "was, in fact, shot and fired upon by what is believed to be personnel wearing uniforms resembling those worn by Iranian border guards." The American soldiers "took self-defense measures (and) returned fire" against their assailants, Kimmitt reported, noting the exchange soon ended. |