US troops killed four Iraqi firefighters in a case of mistaken identity after a report that a firetruck had been hijacked, the military said today.
A US statement said troops pulled over a fire truck matching the description of one reported hijacked yesterday in Falluja, a tense town in the western Anbar province.
"The people inside the truck exited quickly and Coalition Forces thought they were armed. Coalition Forces engaged what they thought were armed insurgents with small arms fire," it said, adding that all four were killed.
"Upon further investigation the suspected insurgents were in fact firefighters responding to a call. The fire truck number did not match the one of the hijacked truck."
The statement said minutes later another fire truck was pulled over nearby and the occupants fled. "It was determined that this truck number did match the truck that was hijacked."