Military: Iranians fired on troops last year

No Americans hurt in September border attack, but 6 Iraqis still missing
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Mar 25, 2007 15:12:03 EDT

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military confirmed Sunday that Iranian soldiers attacked American troops working with Iraqi border guards last year in a volatile province northeast of Baghdad, showing the recent capture of 15 British forces was not the first time Iranians have taken Western forces by surprise in Iraq.

The British sailors and marines were seized at gunpoint Friday as they searched for smugglers off the Iraqi coast, and Iran said they had illegally entered Iranian waters. British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday denied that claim and warned that Britain viewed the situation as “very serious.”

U.S. News and World Report, citing an Army report from Iraq, said American troops working with Iraqi border guards inside the frontier were attacked by a much larger Iranian military unit in September east of the Diyala province town of Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The magazine reported that the Iranians were on the Iraqi side of the border when they fired at the Americans with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. No Americans were hurt in the incident, but four Iraqi soldiers, an interpreter, and an Iraqi border policeman remain missing.

The U.S. military said the account was accurate, adding the Americans were only performing their duties and the incident could have been a result of confusion in the vast desert area along the border.

“There is a lot of open terrain,” military spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Donnelly said in an e-mail. “Visual sighting and happenstance encounters from a distance occur routinely.”

He said the American troops involved were training, advising and helping the Iraqi border police as they seek to gain control over their own security.

The details emerged as tensions have risen between Iran and the United States over claims that Tehran is providing weapons and funding to Iraqi militants and that the Islamic republic is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies both allegations.

Ellie