BAGHDAD, Jan 27: Gunmen speaking English, wearing US military uniforms and carrying American weapons abducted four US soldiers last week at the provincial headquarters in Karbala and then shot them to death.

It was perhaps the boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare.

The US military confirmed a report earlier on Friday by The Associated Press that three of the soldiers were dead and one was mortally wounded with a gunshot to the head when they were found in a neighbouring province, about 40 kilometres from the compound where they were captured.

A fifth soldier was killed in the initial attack on the compound.

The new account contradicted a US military statement on Jan 20, the day of the raid on an Iraqi governor’s office, that five soldiers were killed “repelling” the attack.—AP