Ambush kills two US marines
A suicide car bomber and gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying female US Marines in Fallujah, killing two US Marines and leaving another four American troops presumed dead, the military said.
At least one woman was killed and 11 of 13 wounded were female.
The terror group al-Qaida in Iraq yesterday claimed it carried out the bombing, one of the single deadliest attacks against the US Marines - and against women - in the country.
The high number of female casualties spoke to the lack of any real front lines in Iraq, where US troops are battling a raging insurgency and US women soldiers have taken part in more close-quarters combat than in any previous military conflict.
The women were part of a team of Marines who were assigned to various checkpoints around Fallujah.
Female Marines are used at the checkpoints to search Muslim women "in order to be respectful of Iraqi cultural sensitivities," a military statement said. It is considered insulting for a male Marine to search a female Muslim.
The Marines were returning to their base, Camp Fallujah, when the ambush took place on Thursday night near the eastern entrance to the city, 40 miles west of Baghdad.
At least one of the dead Marines in Thursday's attack was a woman, as were 11 of the 13 wounded.
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