Two American Civilians, Interpreter Killed In Iraq

Warsaw, 10 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The Polish military says that two U.S. civilians and their Iraqi interpreter were shot dead last night at a false checkpoint in south-central Iraq.

Spokesman Zdzislaw Gnatowski said the victims were shot by five men disguised as Iraqi policemen near the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad.

Gnatowski said the attackers were arrested and handed over to U.S. military police. He said the bodies of the slain men were found in a car driven by the attackers.

In a separate development, officials with the largest Shi'a political party in Iraq say a bomb exploded near their offices in Baquba today.

The officials said the explosion left several people with minor injuries and damaged the building housing offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in Baquba, 55 kilometers northwest of the capital Baghdad.