Five civilians were killed and more than a dozen others reportedly injured in crossfire after a gunbattle erupted between British soldiers and insurgents who set a fire in a market today, Iraqi police said.
Police captain Hussein Karim said insurgents started the fire in the market in south Amarah, 290 km southeast of Bagdad, to lure soldiers to fight.
The British Ministry of Defence, however, said soldiers were sent to search the area because it was the site where a rocket was believed to have been fired.
A report from Cairo said the Al-Qaeda in Iraq vowed today to carry out "major attacks," insisting in a Web statement that it was still powerful after the death of its leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi, but said the group's leadership "renews its allegiance" to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed.
Released on: Jun 14, 2006
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