7 Spanish agents killed in Iraq attack

MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 29 — Attackers ambushed a team of Spanish intelligence officers on a highway south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing seven agents and wounding one, Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo said.

TELEVISION FOOTAGE showed a small group of youths gathered after the attack, chanting slogans in support of Saddam Hussein and kicking the bodies.

The team was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles in Mahmudiyah, 18 miles south of Baghdad, Trillo said in televised comments. He said he would fly to Iraq to repatriate the bodies.

The two civilian four-wheel-drive vehicles were traveling south from Baghdad to the city of Hillah, according to Capt. Ivan Morgan, a spokesman for a multinational division in southern Iraq. He described the men as Spanish soldiers attached to an intelligence unit.

Footage shot by Sky News shortly after the attack showed a crowd of about a dozen men gathered around the bodies, chanting: “We sacrifice our souls and blood for you, oh Saddam.” One young man could be seen planting his foot on one of the bodies while another kicked it.

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