US troops kill 25 after Mosul attack

At least 25 insurgents were killed by US troops and warplanes in northern Iraq as they attacked an American outpost with a car bomb and explosives, the US military said today.

One US soldier died in hospital today after the fierce clash in the restive city of Mosul yesterday, the military said.

A car bomb exploded near a US outpost in western Mosul and American soldiers arriving to the scene of the blast were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades, small arms fire and a roadside bomb, US military spokesman Staff Sergeant Don Dees said.

US forces then called in F-18 and F-14 warplanes which fired at some 50 insurgents at the Yarmuk traffic circle, Dees said.

“Initial estimates indicate that there were 25 killed,” Dees said. Fifteen US soldiers were wounded, nine of whom returned to duty and the remaining were evacuated to a military medical facility.

Fourteen US soldiers were killed on December 21, when a suicide bomber walked into a mess tent in Mosul packed with soldiers having lunch. In all, 22 people were killed and dozens wounded in the blast. The radical Ansar al-Sunnah Army, believed to be behind a number of attacks and kidnappings, claimed responsibility for the attack.