Iraq: US kills two women, by 'mistake'

reuters: A joint Iraqi-U.S. security body said on Wednesday U.S. forces had killed "by mistake" two women who were en route to a maternity hospital north of Baghdad.

News of the deaths came a day after Iraq's prime minister told Reuters his patience was wearing thin with "excuses" from U.S. troops that they kill civilians by "mistake".

The U.S. military is also under pressure over revelations that U.S. Marines may have killed 24 civilians in the town of Haditha during an unprovoked attack last November.

An incident report by the joint body of the Iraqi army and U.S. forces in Salahaddin province said the two women were shot and killed in the small town of al-Mutasim on Tuesday.

A brief statement from the Joint Coordination Centre named them as Saleha Mohammed, 55, and Nabiha Nasif, 35.

"U.S. forces killed two women by mistake ... when they were heading to a maternity hospital in a taxi," it said, without specifying if either of the women was pregnant. Read more