Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. soldiers in Iraq killed six Iraqi security members and wounded ten others in a mistaken fire in a town in north of Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi police and U.S. military said.

    The incident occurred at dawn, when a U.S. boat passed along the Tigris River near a checkpoint manned by Iraqi policemen and soldiers north of the town of Tarmiyah, some 40 km north of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The security members first fired warning shots in the air when they saw an unidentified boat in the river near their checkpoint, prompting the U.S. soldiers to return fire and call in air support, killing six Iraqi security members and wounding ten others, the source said.

    A U.S. military statement confirmed there was an incident involving weapons fire between its troops and Iraqi security forces north of Tarmiyah.

    U.S. aircraft were involved in the incident and there were initial reports indicate that the Iraqi security members sustained casualties, according to the statement obtained by Xinhua.

    "It is always regrettable when incidents of mistaken fire occur on the battlefield, a review of the circumstances is under way," the military said.