July 25, 2004 – US military officials say American troops and Iraqi forces killed fifteen insurgents in a fierce, five-hour battle near the city of Baqouba on Sunday. But initial reports from an Iraqi medical worker indicated that only two people -- an Iraqi police officer and an Iraqi civilian, were killed in the fighting. Qaysar Hamid, an emergency worker at Baqouba General Hospital, said six civilians were also wounded in the battle, which took place in the Buhruz area near Baquoba, some 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Some of the casualties had bullet wounds, others shrapnel wounds, Hamid told Aljazeera.
US military spokesperson Major Neal O’Brien said the battle began while US troops and Iraqi National Guard forces were conducting a sweep of palm groves in Buhruz they believed to be a staging area for attacks against occupation forces. After being fired upon by resistance fighters armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, the US reportedly responded with an artillery barrage that shook the area.
