Kurdish fighters hit in latest 'friendly fire' tragedy

In separate incident, Russian ambassador's convoy said to have been attacked after leaving Baghdad

A US warplane bombed a convoy carrying US Special Forces and Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq on Sunday, killing several men, according to a BBC reporter with the troops.

BBC correspondent John Simpson said he counted at least 10 bodies amid the burning vehicles.

"An American plane dropped the bomb right beside us. I saw it land about 10 feet (three meters) away," said Simpson.

Associated Press Television Network showed pictures of the bombing, near the town of Makhmur, in Kurdish territory about halfway between the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Kirkuk.

Simpson, the BBC's World Affairs Editor, said the convoy contained between eight and 10 cars, two of which carried US Special Forces troops.

The BBC said Simpson had been wounded in the leg by shrapnel. His translator was seriously injured, and so was a senior Kurdish political figure, he said.

"This is just a scene from hell here," Simpson said. "All the vehicles are on fire, there are bodies burning all around me, bits of bodies all around ... The Americans saw this convoy and they bombed it. They hit their own people."

A Pentagon duty officer, Master Sgt. Grant Windsor, initially appeared to confirm the incident and read a statement from US Central Command that said three Americans were killed and five others wounded in the bombing.

Central Command in Doha, Qatar, questioned the report, and it was subsequently clarified that Windsor had been referring to a Central Command statement about a separate incident on April 3.

Lt. Mark Kitchens, a Central Command spokesman, suggested there were two friendly fire incidents involved and would not confirm the details of the attack reported Sunday by the BBC.

In another apparent blunder, a convoy of Russian diplomats came under fire today as they were evacuating from Baghdad, the Kremlin said. There are wounded, it said, citing the Foreign Ministry.

President Vladimir Putin has been informed about the incident, the Kremlin press service said.

The convoy came under fire as it was moving toward the Syrian border. Russian officials had long ago evacuated most of the embassy's staff, but a core team had remained until Sunday, including the ambassador.

The Foreign Ministry said that the US and Iraqi ambassadors were urgently called to the Foreign Ministry and asked to take all measures necessary to guarantee Russian citizens' safety in Iraq, to investigate the circumstances of the attack and punish those responsible.

The ministry said there were wounded but had no information on how many. It said the ambassador was among those traveling in the convoy.