IRAQ

IRAQ

Other developments

Also Monday:

At least 23 Iraqis were killed in bomb blasts and other violence, including a car bomb that exploded near the Polish Embassy, and two U.S. service members also were killed in separate incidents, authorities said. The U.S. military announced the deaths of a Marine killed in combat Monday in Al Anbar province and a soldier killed Friday near Beiji. At least 3,815 U.S. personnel have been killed since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, according to the Web site icasualties.org, which tracks military deaths.

In a separate matter causing strain in U.S. and Iraqi relations, The Associated Press reported that Iraqi authorities have asked the U.S. government to hand over the Blackwater USA security guards involved in a shooting last month to face possible trial in an Iraqi court. Iraqi officials also want the U.S. government to pay $8 million to the families of each of the 17 people it says were killed when the private security company’s guards opened fire at a busy intersection Sept. 16, and to sever all ties with the company within six months. Blackwater says its guards were ambushed while protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy, but Iraqi officials concluded they fired without provocation.

Source: Los Angeles Times