Mosul Attack Kills Four

17/12/2004| IslamWeb

Three passengers and their driver have been killed after their car came under attack in the northern city of Mosul, witnesses said. One of the victims was beheaded in the attack on Friday, the witnesses said. The white sedan car carrying the victims was attacked while proceeding through western Mosul. It was later set on fire. A photographer for Reuters saw three bodies lying on the street close to the blazing vehicle. Media reports said the three passengers were believed to be Western foreigners, but there has been no independent confirmation of their nationalities. A fourth corpse was sprawled near the car. Also on Friday, three Kurds were killed and a child wounded in a Katyusha rocket attack in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. **Mortar attack*** In other incidents, Baghdad airport, in the west of the Iraqi capital, came under mortar attack, Aljazeera has learned. Heavy smoke was seen rising from inside the airport on Friday. No further details about damage were immediately available. Elsewhere in the city, a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into a Baghdad building housing an Australian security unit on Friday but none of the soldiers was wounded, an Australian defence department official in Sydney said. It hit the side of the building shortly after 7.00am local time and a second grenade fell 50 metres wide, a department spokeswoman said. **Dangerous place*** "No Australian soldiers were wounded in the attack," the defence department spokeswoman said, adding that there was no immediate information on possible civilian casualties. The building is located near Australia's embassy in Baghdad, she said. The spokeswoman said it was not clear if the Australian contingent had been a specific target of the attack. Iraqi security and multinational forces are usually targeted by direct fire, she said. "Iraq is a dangerous place and our security attachment protects Australian diplomats and officials and we are continuing to monitor our force-protection requirements to ensure that we are able to protect Australian troops in the safest possible way," she said. Australia has about 850 soldiers deployed in and around Iraq and has suffered no casualties yet in the conflict. **PHOTO CAPTION*** A man covers his face as he stands near a burning car in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. (AFP)