Iraqi Interim council rejects sending Turkish troops to Iraq; Three US soldiers killed

Members of the Iraq's interim governing council Mahmoud Othman said that the council unanimously rejected sending Turkish forces to Iraq.

He added that the council viewed sending Turkish forces as "a bad thing and will not contribute to establishing peace in Iraq." However, well-informed sources said that the decision of the Iraqi governing council is not final and that the council continues its consultations with the occupation authorities before any official statement to this effect.

Meanwhile, during the past hours attacks continued targeting the American occupation forces in Iraq and the last of which resulted in killing three American soldiers and one Iraqi translator and wounding of other three in two attacks carried out against the American forces to the south of Baghdad and near al-Ramadi to the western part of the country.

An American military spokesman said that three soldiers were slightly wounded in another operation in Tikrit to the north of Iraq when an explosive went off in an operation targeting a vehicle they were riding during a patrol in the city. The wounded were taken to the headquarters of the fourth contingent in the city.

In Baghdad, a spokesman for the US forces said that an explosion took place in the building of the Iraqi foreign ministry followed by clashes by bullets between the American forces and unidentified forces near the place of the incident. Witnesses said that certain guards of the ministry were wounded in the attack which inflected damages at a car parking at the foreign ministry.

This, however, coincided with a similar attack by mortars shelling at the headquarters of the Higher Council of the Islamic Revolution in the downtown of Karkouk to the north of Iraq that resulted in killing one of the council's employees and wounding another. An official at the council accused members of al-Qaida organization and supporters of the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of being behind this attack.

In another development, one American helicopter crashed yesterday near al-Falouja city, 50 Km to the west of Baghdad. Witnesses said that the helicopters crashed in a valley, 20 Km to the south of Falouja.