An Oklahoma naval officer was
killed in an explosion in Iraq on
Friday.
The Defense Department said
Petty Officer 3rd Class Doyle
Wayne Bollinger Jr., of Poteau
was killed when a piece of unexploded ammunition went off
where he was working.
Bollinger, 21, was a member
of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, based in Gulfport, Miss.
Three other Seabees were injured in the explosion. The
cause of the explosion is still under investigation.
The 700-man battalion has
been deployed to the Middle
East since January. The battalion
was working on a 120-foot gap
in the bridge over the Tigris River.
Elsewhere in Iraq, an American soldier was killed and four
companions wounded Saturday
in an attack near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit north
of the capital, a military statement said.
It was at least the seventh
U.S. soldier killed in attacks in
Iraq over the past two weeks.
Gunmen opened fire on the
troops using small arms and a
rocket-propelled grenade, said
the brief statement released by
U.S. Central Command.
The names of the soldiers and
their unit were withheld to allow
notification of relatives.
Dozens of U.S. soldiers have
been killed or injured in attacks
in central Iraq since the end of
the war nearly two months ago.
Of particular volatility is the
area around Fallujah, a Sunni
Muslim stronghold about 30
miles west of Baghdad. More
than 1,500 U.S. Army solders
from the 3rd Infantry Division
were added to that
area last
week to prevent unrest and quell
attacks on U.S. troops.
