Insurgents in Iraq Kill GI, Marine, British Soldier

BAGHDAD —  A U.S. soldier, a Marine and a British soldier were killed in separate incidents in Iraq, military officials said Tuesday.

The U.S. soldier was killed and several others were wounded Monday in clashes with Shiite Muslim militiamen in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, the American military said.

Maj. Phil Smith, deputy public affairs officer for the 1st Cavalry Division, said in a statement that three armored vehicles were disabled when insurgents attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs.

The Marine, who was assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed while on patrol Tuesday in Al Anbar province, the military said. The province includes the cities of Fallouja, Ramadi and Qaim.

The names of the soldier and the Marine were withheld until relatives could be notified.

The Marine Corps on Tuesday released the names of two Californians who were killed in Iraq on Sunday. They were Pfc. Fernando B. Hannon, 19, of Wildomar and Pfc. Geoffrey Perez, 24, of Los Angeles.

The British army reported that one of its soldiers was killed and another wounded Tuesday during fighting with Iraqi militia forces in the southern city of Basra, where most of Britain’s 8,300 troops in Iraq are based.

The fighting involved militants loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, said Maj. Ian Clooney, a spokesman for British forces.

At least 935 U.S. troops and 64 British military personnel have been killed in Iraq since the invasion last year.

In other developments Tuesday, Iraqi police freed a Jordanian hostage in a raid south of Baghdad and held three men believed to have played a role in the kidnapping, a police spokesman said.

In Amman, Jordan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Ayed confirmed the report and said Samer Tamaallah Hussein Tamaallah had been kidnapped two weeks ago.

Police rescued Tamaallah from a house in Karbala, about 60 miles south of the capital, said Rahman Mshawi, a spokesman for the main Karbala police station.

Tamaallah said that he was abducted in Baghdad and that his kidnappers had demanded a ransom.