BAQUBAH, (Iraq), Nov 28: Two young Iraqi sisters were killed by US troops, some 60 kilometres north of Baghdad, police and family members said on Friday.

American troops at Ibn Firnas airport, seven kilometres from Baqubah, shot Fatima and Azra, 15 and 12, on Thursday at midday as they were collecting wood from a field some 30 metres away, their brother said.

“Azra died on the spot and my other sister later died from her wounds,” said 18-year-old Qusay.

Policeman Hussein Ali said US forces handed one of the girls’ bodies over to the police “arguing that she had a gun in her possession.” Police searched the girls’ home, “without finding anything illegal,” Ali added.

There was no immediate comment from the US military.

Meanwhile, a US soldier from the 101st Airborne Division was killed on Friday when four mortar shells were fired at the division’s base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, said Sergeant Kelly Tyler.

“Four mortar shells hit on Friday at 11:00 am (0800 GMT),” said Tyler. “One soldier was killed and an Iraqi worker was slightly injured.”—AFP