US Marines suffer 2 dead, 22 wounded in w. Iraq

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Two US Marines were killed and 22 wounded - two of them critically - in fighting in western Iraq, the US military said Saturday. It was the biggest number of American casualties reported from a single engagement in weeks. A US statement said the casualties were suffered Thursday due to "enemy action" in Anbar province but gave no specific location nor details of the fighting. One Marine was killed "at the scene of the attack," the statement said. Another Marine died at a medical facility in Taqqadum, it added. Eight of the wounded were flown to the main US hospital in Balad. Two were listed in critical condition and six were reported as stable, the statement said. The others were taken to a US clinic at Camp Fallujah, were four were hospitalized for observation.