A U.S. Army officer corroborated published reports that three truckers were among four KBR contractors killed Sept. 20 in Duluiyah, Iraq, 45 miles north of Baghdad.
One of the truckers was doused with petroleum and burned alive by Sunni Arab civilians, including children who threw hay onto the burning man to fuel the flames.
The attack came after the convoy took a wrong turn.
Newspapers such as Britain’s Daily Sun and The Houston Chronicle report that the insurgents attacked with rocket launchers and automatic rifles, then dragged the four men’s bodies through the streets screaming anti-U.S. slogans.
Two other contractors were wounded. American troops were able to provide first aid to the two wounded men and recover the slain contractors’ bodies but could not act fast enough to save them.
As of Wednesday, Oct. 26, the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the invasion began stood at 2,001, a number that does not include the dozens of civilian contractors killed.
As reported by Truckers News in a July 2004 cover story, some American truckers in Iraq, working for various private companies, earn tax-free annual salaries as large as $120,000. The job is difficult and dangerous, as described in Escape in Iraq, co-written by Mississippi trucker Thomas Hamill, who was wounded in a convoy attack and held prisoner for 24 days.
