Iraq marines drown in their tank

Four US Marines died in Iraq when their tank rolled off a bridge into a canal and they drowned, the military said today.

The deaths were not a result of enemy reaction, the US command said.

The accident occurred yesterday when the four Marines with Regimental Combat Team 5 were travelling in a US M1A1 Main Battle Tank near Karmah, 80 kilometres (50 miles) in Anbar Province where many of Iraq’s Sunni Arab led insurgent groups are based.

“We are a close-knit family and this loss affects us all,” said Col. Larry Nicholson, commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 5. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these Marines during this difficult period.”

The names of the deceased were withheld pending notification of their relatives, and the accident was under investigation, the military said.

Their deaths raised to at least 2,434 the number of members of the US military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

:: A vehicle contracted by Japan’s military in Iraq was damaged by an apparent roadside bomb but no one was injured, an official and a news report said today.

The civilian vehicle, damaged yesterday afternoon, did not contain any Japanese military personnel at the time, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe.

The vehicle was transporting food and had no markings identifying it as being affiliated with Japanese forces, according to Japan’s Kyodo News agency.

The incident happened about 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Samawah, the southern Iraqi city where about 600 Japanese troops are based on a humanitarian mission as part of the US-led Iraqi reconstruction efforts.

:: At least four Iraqi journalists and employees of media organisations have been killed this month – underscoring the risks in a nation where Saddam Hussein’s press restrictions have been replaced by extremist violence.

The international media group, Reporters Without Borders, says at least 93 journalists and media workers have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003 and 42 kidnapped.

Another group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, puts the figure at about 70 because it doesn’t count news assistants and non-reporting employees as journalists. Of those, nearly three-quarters were Iraqis, the New York-based group said.