A crowd of cheering Iraqis dragged the charred and mutilated bodies of four contractors working for the US-led coalition, including a woman and one American man, through the streets of Falluja yesterday after they died in an ambush.
In separate attacks, five American soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb was detonated beside their convoy west of Baghdad and three British soldiers were wounded by the explosion of a roadside bomb near the southern port city of Basra.
A suicide bomber also detonated his car in Baquba, about 40km north of Baghdad, killing himself and wounding 14 other people.
The Falluja violence began when two four-wheel-drive vehicles were attacked by guerrillas on a main road in the town, 50km west of Baghdad. A crowd then set the vehicles ablaze and hurled stones into the burning wreckage.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US army in Iraq, said all four contractors in the vehicles were killed. He did not give their nationalities.
Television pictures showed one incinerated body being kicked and stamped on by a member of the jubilant crowd, while others dragged a blackened body down the road by its feet. TV footage showed one American passport near a body and a US Department of Defense identification card belonging to another man.
As one body lay burning on the ground, an Iraqi came and doused it with gasoline, sending flames soaring.
At least two bodies were tied to cars and pulled through the streets, witnesses said.
"This is the fate of all Americans who come to Falluja," said Mohammad Nafik, one of the crowd surrounding the bodies.
Some body parts were pulled off and left hanging from a telephone cable, while two incinerated bodies were later strung from a bridge and left dangling there.
As the victims lay burning, a crowd of around 150 men chanted "Long live Islam" and Allahu Akbar ("God is Greatest") while flashing victory signs.
No US soldiers or Iraqi police were seen in the area for hours after the attack, but a US fighter plane screamed overhead, prompting the crowd to scatter.
Falluja has been one of the most violent, restive towns in Iraq since the US-led occupation began. There are almost daily attacks on US military convoys in the area.
With less than 100 days to go before US authorities hand over sovereignty to an Iraqi government, the US military, Iraqi police and other local security forces are still battling to bring security to the country.
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