US troops kill three Iraqi police 'by mistake'

US troops mistakenly shot and killed three Iraqi police officers and wounded two others, thinking they were bandits, an Iraqi police officer said today.

The policemen were manning a checkpoint on a road in the Sleiman Beg area, 55 miles south of Kirkuk, in north-east Iraq, when US troops opened fire on them at about around midnight on Friday, said Lt. Salam Zangana of the Kirkuk police force. He said two other policemen were wounded.