Up to 37 US marines were injured yesterday and their armoured vehicles destroyed by "friendly fire", amid fierce fighting close to the strategic southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya.
British and French reporters travelling with US forces said marines at a command post came under mortar and shell fire from two US units sent in to attack a group of Iraqis.
Soldiers told last night of their lucky escape. Standing close to the burnt-out wreckage of their vehicles, they said they managed to jump free with moments to spare.
One told ITV News: "It is bad enough when the Iraqis attack you."
Another said: "Stuff like that is a possibility out here. What we have to do now is move on."
The friendly-fire shootings came as US troops continued to encounter stiff opposition around Nassiriya nearly a week after marines first attempted to capture the city, which controls two crossings over the Euphrates.
US forces, who finally managed to force their way through Nassiriya this week on their push north to Baghdad, are facing pockets of resistance in the city and more fierce opposition once they cross the Euphrates.
Mr Hazim al-Rawi, an Iraqi military spokesman, claimed his commandos raided an "enemy column" near Nassiriya, destroying four armoured personnel carriers and killing those inside. There was no independent verification of his claims.
Units of the marines' First Division surmounted two days of Iraqi attacks and pushed north toward Baghdad on a major road near the city of Diwaniya, some 240 km from the capital.
Another marine unit from the east broke free of Iraqi resistance between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and moved to within 250 km of the capital.
The progress toward Baghdad became easier as blinding sandstorms that had slowed their movements for two days cleared up. But as the total number of Coalition troops on operations approached 300,000, Iraqi forces still controlled much of the country and showed few signs of wavering.
US marines pushing north from Nassiriya treated enemy wounded yesterday and searched the blood-stained luggage of Iraqis killed inside a bus by a storm of bullets from advancing armoured units earlier.- (Guardian Service, Reuters)