FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. forces killed eight Iraqi police and a Jordanian security guard, and wounded nine other people before dawn Friday in the deadliest friendly fire incident since the end of major fighting. The U.S. military said its troops had come under attack.
The Iraqi police came under fire from the U.S. troops about 1:30 a.m. in Fallujah as about 25 uniformed policemen in two pickup trucks and a sedan were chasing a white BMW known to have been used by highway bandits, said Asem Mohammed, a 23-year-old police sergeant who was among the injured.
"We were chasing a white BMW with bandits. We turned around in front of Jordanian Hospital and some American forces started shooting at us," Mohammed said.
Members of the Jordanian armed forces guarding the hospital apparently also opened fire when the Americans began shooting, catching the Iraqi police in a crossfire. After the incident, heavily armed Jordanian security guards were seen examining a bullet-riddled building just inside the walled hospital compound.
"We were in-between firing from all sides," Mohammed said. "We were in the middle."
The U.S. military said American soldiers were fired upon with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms in an attack in Fallujah, wounding one U.S. soldier and five "neutral individuals." It gave no other details, and said nothing about deaths.
An Associated Press reporter who saw some of the dead Iraqis said they were in uniform - a blue shirt with insignia.
