Three U.S. military police killed in Iraq

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Friday, October 17, 2003 Posted: 8:48 AM EDT (1248 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Three U.S. military police and two Iraqi police were killed in a fierce gunbattle overnight that raged for almost 12 hours near a mosque in the central Iraqi city of Karbala.

A joint unit of Iraqi police and American military police from the 101st Airborne Division were on a routine patrol near the Imam Abbas mosque when assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s, the Coalition Press Information Center said.

Five U.S. military police and two Iraqi police also were wounded in the attack, U.S. Maj. Ralph Manos said.

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