U.S. Confirms Killing Of Contractors in Iraq

Four Were Slain by Angry Mob Last Month

By John Ward Anderson and Steve Fainaru

Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, October 23, 2005; Page A16

BAGHDAD, Oct. 22 -- Four U.S. contractors were killed last month when their convoy took a wrong turn, drove into a town north of Baghdad and was attacked by an angry mob, a senior U.S. military official said Saturday.

The incident, which occurred Sept. 20 in the town of Duluiyah, about 45 miles north of Baghdad, was first reported Saturday by Britain's Daily Telegraph. The senior U.S. military commander confirmed the account to The Washington Post. There was no explanation for why the military did not report the deaths earlier.