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BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 4, 2007

Friendly Fire Probed In U.S. Troop Deaths

Families Of 2 Soldiers Were Initially Told They Were Killed By Enemy Fire In Iraq

By Amy S Clark
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(CBS/AP)  A week after acknowledging a litany of errors in the friendly fire death of former NFL star Pat Tillman, the Army said Wednesday two soldiers killed in Iraq in February may also have been killed by their own comrades.

The Army said it is investigating the deaths of Pvt. Matthew Zeimer, 18, of Glendive, Mont., and Spc. Alan E. McPeek, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., who were killed in Ramadi, in western Iraq, on Feb. 2. The families of the two soldiers were initially told they were killed by enemy fire.

According to Army Col. Daniel Baggio, unit commanders in Iraq did not at first suspect they were killed by U.S. forces, but an investigation by the unit concluded that may be the case.

A supplemental report filed Feb. 28 suggested that the initial reports might have been wrong but that an investigation was still under way, he said. According to the Army, the unit did not include friendly fire in that report "because they were reluctant to make the claim until the unit-level investigation was complete."

It took another month before the families of the two soldiers were told, on March 31, that friendly fire was suspected.

Rose Doyle, McPeek's mother, declined to discuss the latest development. "I don't feel comfortable talking," she said. "Whatever I say isn't going to bring my son back."

Meanwhile, six power plant workers were gunned down in northern Iraq on Wednesday, while heavily armed gunmen abducted 22 Shiite shepherds who were tending thousands of sheep and had wandered into a dangerous Sunni area west of Baghdad.

The attacks reflected the spread of sectarian violence outside Baghdad as violence declines in the capital, where a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown is in its eighth week.

The shepherds had traveled from the Shiite holy city of Karbala to a greener stretch of land in the vast area around Amariyah, some 25 miles west of Baghdad in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, Karbala police spokesman Rahman Mishawi said.

A shepherd who escaped the attack said about 20 men with automatic rifles drove up in vehicles and opened fire on the group as their several thousand sheep were grazing.

"I suddenly realized that we must be near Amariyah and that Sunnis were attacking us," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. "Six of us were able to flee in our pickup, but unfortunately they kidnapped 22 friends of mine and stole our sheep."

In other developments:

  • The U.S. military said Wednesday that it remains "extremely concerned" about high-profile bombings despite a drop in the overall death toll in Baghdad after more than 300 people were killed in such attacks in recent weeks. The Iraqi government, meanwhile, announced it was extending a security operation outside the capital, although it gave few details. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said sectarian violence dropped 26 percent from February to March.

  • The strains of fighting in Iraq have forced the Marine Corps to forego training in jungle warfare and other skills that are the traditional backbone of the Corps, the Marines' top general said Wednesday. "We're not training for the other kinds" of combat that could arise at short notice, Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, told a group of Marines at the U.S. naval headquarters for the Persian Gulf.

  • Iraqis in the capital said Tuesday that Sen. John McCain's account of a heavily guarded visit to a central market did not represent the current reality in Baghdad, with one calling it "propaganda." Jaafar Moussa Thamir, a 42-year-old who sells electrical appliances at the Shorja market that the Republican congressmen visited on Sunday, said the delegation greeted some fellow vendors with Arabic phrases but he was not impressed. "They were just making fun of us and paid this visit just for their own interests," he said.

  • President Bush said Tuesday Democrats are failing their responsibility to the troops and the nation's security by leaving for their own recess after passing bills to fund the war that contain timelines for American withdrawal. Given his promised veto of anything containing a deadline — and the likelihood that his veto would be sustained on Capitol Hill — Mr. Bush said Democrats are merely engaging in games that "undercut the troops."

    Continued



    © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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