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Three Australian soldiers wounded in Baghdad blast
At least two Iraqis were killed and three Australian soldiers wounded when a car bomb exploded near an Australian Army convoy in Baghdad.
A white vehicle was detonated by remote control as the Australian convoy passed through a residential district on its way to the heavily-fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraq's seat of Government and the US embassy, said US Major Scott Stanger, citing witnesses.
The Department of Defence confirmed that three Australian soldiers were injured in the blast which hit a convoy of three Australian armed vehicles.
One Australian soldier received facial injuries which are not life threatening, and another Australian soldier received concussion and the third minor abrasions.
An Australian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the blast occurred close to the Australian.
"We understand a military convoy was involved," she told AFP from Canberra.
The spokeswoman attributed the blast to a roadside bomb and was unable to give any information on any possible Australian military casualties.
Australia, along with Britain and the United States, was a founding member of the coalition that led the invasion of Iraq last year.
For his part, Maj Stanger said no diplomats had been travelling in the convoy.
"It was only a military convoy trying to get to check point 11 near the bridge," Maj Stanger said, referring to a southern entrance to the Green Zone.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw a damaged army vehicle, with its tyres flattened by the force of the blast that rocked the Karrada district of Baghdad at about 8:00am (local time).
Police Lieutenant Abbas Fadel said two people were killed in the blast, but a toll from nearby hospitals only recorded 13 wounded.
Ambulances were seen rushing to and from the blast site, ferrying away casualties as US soldiers cordoned off the area, where hundreds of local people had gathered to try to glimpse what was going on.
--AFP/ABC
Thankfully it seems that they are not seriously hurt.
At least two Iraqis were killed and three Australian soldiers wounded when a car bomb exploded near an Australian Army convoy in Baghdad.
A white vehicle was detonated by remote control as the Australian convoy passed through a residential district on its way to the heavily-fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraq's seat of Government and the US embassy, said US Major Scott Stanger, citing witnesses.
The Department of Defence confirmed that three Australian soldiers were injured in the blast which hit a convoy of three Australian armed vehicles.
One Australian soldier received facial injuries which are not life threatening, and another Australian soldier received concussion and the third minor abrasions.
An Australian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the blast occurred close to the Australian.
"We understand a military convoy was involved," she told AFP from Canberra.
The spokeswoman attributed the blast to a roadside bomb and was unable to give any information on any possible Australian military casualties.
Australia, along with Britain and the United States, was a founding member of the coalition that led the invasion of Iraq last year.
For his part, Maj Stanger said no diplomats had been travelling in the convoy.
"It was only a military convoy trying to get to check point 11 near the bridge," Maj Stanger said, referring to a southern entrance to the Green Zone.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw a damaged army vehicle, with its tyres flattened by the force of the blast that rocked the Karrada district of Baghdad at about 8:00am (local time).
Police Lieutenant Abbas Fadel said two people were killed in the blast, but a toll from nearby hospitals only recorded 13 wounded.
Ambulances were seen rushing to and from the blast site, ferrying away casualties as US soldiers cordoned off the area, where hundreds of local people had gathered to try to glimpse what was going on.
--AFP/ABC
Thankfully it seems that they are not seriously hurt.

