KUWAIT CITY, March 29 (Saturday) -- A suicide bomber driving a taxi filled with explosives killed five U.S. soldiers today at a highway checkpoint in central Iraq, military spokesmen said, the first such attack on American troops in war in which Iraqi forces have been accused of dressing as civilians and employing so-called human shields.
The incident occurred near the city of Najaf, about 80 miles south of Baghdad, according to spokesmen quoted by news services. Capt. Andrew Wallace told the Associated Press that members of the 1st Brigade of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division were manning a checkpoint north of the city when a taxi stopped nearby and its driver waved for help. When five U.S. soldiers approached the car, it exploded, Wallace said.
It was the first successful suicide bombing reported by U.S. forces during the 10-day-old war. An earlier suicide attack on a military convoy...