Iraq

Accident kills 2 soldiers, hurts 5

Two U.S. soldiers were killed Monday while disposing of explosives outside Sinjar near the northern city of Mosul during an operation to dispose of ordnance, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations chief.

Five soldiers were hurt in the blast, according to a statement issued by the U.S. military's Task Force Olympia. The statement said the soldiers were moving mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades from a storage area to a demolition point when the explosion occurred.

One of the soldiers was killed instantly. The second soldier died later of his injuries. Three of the injured were hospitalized in stable condition and two others were treated for minor injuries and returned to duty.

The names of the two victims were withheld until their families could be notified.

In Ramadi, northwest of Baghdad, a man wearing an explosives belt blew himself up Monday outside the home of two tribal leaders who have cooperated with American forces.

Three Iraqi guards were seriously wounded in the blast outside the compound of brothers Majid and Amer Ali Suleiman. The brothers are two of the city's most prominent tribal leaders who have worked with coalition forces.

WASHINGTON - American forces in Iraq have detained one of the remaining most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government, defense officials said Monday.

Muhsin Khadr, No. 48 on the 55 most-wanted list, was turned over last weekend to U.S. troops in the Baghdad area, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials did not say who turned him over.

U.S. Central Command described Khadr as the chairman of Hussein's Baath Party in the Qadisiyah Governorate, a region in south-central Iraq. In December, military officials announced he had a $1-million bounty on his head; it was unclear whether that money would be collected.

He was the three of diamonds in the deck of cards the military also uses to rank the importance of senior figures from Hussein's rule.

HALLIBURTON CONTRACT: Faced with price-gouging allegations involving Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Army Corps of Engineers now acknowledges it alone awarded Halliburton new business in Iraq after initially suggesting experts from other U.S. agencies played an important role. The Army Corps of Engineers told the Associated Press that the corps - not an evaluation team cited on its Internet site - chose Halliburton for a contract worth up to $1.2-billion. The corps is refusing to release records showing on what criteria it made the decision.

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