British, U.S. troops fired upon in separate fights

Two Americans soldiers were wounded.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Assailants ambushed a convoy of Britons on a northern Baghdad highway Sunday, killing one Iraqi security guard and a bystander, officials and witnesses said. U.S. soldiers came under fire in a Shiite holy city as an agreement to halt fighting there appeared to be unraveling.
Two American soldiers were wounded in the clashes around the holy city, Najaf, the military said. Fighting erupted Sunday night in Najaf's twin city Kufa, and Shiite militiamen accused the Americans of firing near the main mosque, damaging its outer wall.
In a report from Kufa, CNN, which has a reporter embedded with 1st Armored Division troops there, said a "major firefight" broke out late Sunday when soldiers tried to secure a police station. CNN quoted soldiers as saying it was the most intense fighting in the area in the past six weeks.
The attack in Baghdad's Shoala district occurred near dusk as three sport utility vehicles headed south toward the city center. Gunmen in an approaching vehicle opened fire, sending three of the four SUVs swerving off the road into barricades.
Crowds of Iraqi youths danced and cheered as rescuers dragged a bloodied body, wearing a flak vest, from the driver's seat of one vehicle. Others looted tires and set two vehicles on fire.
Two witnesses, Khalid Zaalan, 22, and Qays Hussein, 15, said there was a shootout, and armed Western men jumped from the wrecked SUVs, commandeered a passing car at gunpoint and escaped.
British statement
In London, the British Foreign Office said four Britons and another Iraqi jumped out of the vehicles, flagged down a passing Iraqi vehicle and escaped. None of the Britons was hurt, but the Iraqi was wounded, the statement said.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman dismissed as rumor some witness reports that Western-looking men were abducted by the attackers.
A family of three was caught in the crossfire, according to Dr. Mazhar Abdullah of the nearby al-Sadr hospital. The husband was killed and his six-months-pregnant wife was seriously injured, the doctor said.
A preliminary report from the 1st Cavalry Division, responsible for security in Baghdad, said one Iraqi security guard was killed and another was wounded. The report did not mention any missing personnel or an escape.
Two British civilians working for a security company died when a roadside bomb blew up their armored car near the coalition headquarters in Baghdad.
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