BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A blast Friday near a mosque west of Baghdad killed four people, including three children, and wounded at least 19 other people, police and hospital officials said. Iraqis blamed U.S. forces, but an American spokesman disputed the Iraqi claim. The blast occurred on the outskirts of the town of Nasaf, near Ramadi, an insurgent center 70 miles west of Baghdad, according to police Lt. Mohammed al-Obeidi and Dr. Mohammed al-Ani of Ramadi General Hospital.
A hospital official, Ali Taleb, said a U.S. armored vehicle fired near the Ibn al-Jawzi mosque, about 15 miles east of Ramadi, after worshippers left the building following Friday prayers.
U.S. Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool, a military spokesman, disputed the account. Pool said two roadside bombs exploded near a U.S. convoy in the Ramadi area. Five gunmen and one civilian driver were killed in the subsequent exchange of fire, Pool said.
He said the incident occurred in a rural area with "no towns or mosques for miles." However, Taleb said 14 of the 19 people wounded in the blast were children.
An Associated Press photographer at the Ramadi General Hospital saw at least three children with serious wounds being treated, including one who appeared to be in shock. One young boy had suffered a head wound.
Sufiyan al-Dulaimi, a 32-year-old resident of Nasaf, said he was stepping out of the mosque when he heard an explosion, then saw a U.S. armored vehicle about a half-mile away fire and hit a wall of the mosque. |