WARSAW, June 8: At least six soldiers serving with Polish-led forces in Iraq were killed and several more wounded in a blast on Tuesday during a demining operation, officials said.

Those killed in the explosion at Suwayrah, south of Baghdad, included three Slovakian, two Polish nationals and a Latvian, officials from the three countries said.

"The incident took place during a demining operation," said Polish military spokesman Colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski. "The accident happened in an old munitions depot dating back to the Saddam Hussein era." Poland commands a multinational force of some 6,500 troops. -AFP