BAGHDAD: A joint Iraqi-US security body said on Wednesday US forces had killed ‘by mistake’ two women who were en route to a maternity hospital north of Baghdad.

News of the deaths came a day after Iraq’s prime minister said his patience was wearing thin with ‘excuses’ from US troops that they kill civilians by ‘mistake’.

An incident report by the joint body of the Iraqi army and U.S. forces in Salahaddin province said the two women were shot and killed in the small town of al-Mutasim on Tuesday.

A brief statement from the Joint Coordination Centre named them as Saleha Mohammed, 55, and Nabiha Nasif, 35.

“US forces killed two women by mistake ... when they were heading to a maternity hospital in a taxi,” it said, without specifying if either of the women was pregnant.

A police source said the driver of the car was wounded.

The military said a car had entered a ‘clearly marked prohibited area’ near an observation post.

“As the vehicle neared the observation post and failed to stop despite repeated visual and auditory signals, shots were fired to disable the vehicle,” Lt Col Ed Loomis said in an e-mail in response to a question.

“The vehicle stopped, changed directions and quickly departed the area.”

He said the military later received Iraqi police reports that two women had died from gunshot wounds at the hospital in the town of Samarra, 100kms north of Baghdad.—Reuters