Gunmen Kill Four Iraqi Soldiers in Fallujah

Gunmen killed four Iraqi soldiers in an attack in the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah west of Baghdad on Saturday, the provincial security command center said.

The attack took place at a checkpoint near a public park in the center of the city, 60 kilometers (35 miles) west of the capital, at around 6:45 pm (1545 GMT), according to Major Yassin Mohammed in Anbar province operations center.

"Four Iraqi soldiers were killed by unknown gunmen," Mohammed said.

"The six gunmen attacked the checkpoint with two cars and killed the soldiers using machineguns."

Fallujah is in mostly Sunni Anbar province, Iraq's largest by area, which was long a bastion of al-Qaida and insurgent forces who battled the U.S. military following the 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Violence levels in the province declined dramatically, however, after Sunni tribal militias sided with American forces from late 2006.