A roadside bomb blast in western Iraq has killed 14 U.S. Marines and their civilian interpreter. U.S. officials say one Marine was wounded in the attack Wednesday just south of the town of Haditha, near the Syrian border.
Meanwhile, an al-Qaida-linked extremist group Ansar al-Sunna says it has captured a U.S. Marine wounded in a clash near Haditha.
It is unclear which clash the group is referring to, but its website says eight other Marines were killed in the incident.
A U.S. military spokesman Biran Whitman says there has been no indication of missing personnel in Iraq. Earlier this week, seven U.S. Marines were killed in separate attacks by insurgents near Haditha.
In the southern city of Basra Tuesday unknown assailants kidnapped and shot dead an American freelance journalist. His translator was also shot but survived.
The killing came days after Steven Vincent wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times that criticized British officials for allowing Shiite clerics to take control of Basra and populate the security forces with their followers.
Information for this report is provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
