CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More now on that breaking news out of Iraq. It's another deadly day for American troops. Three U.S. military police killed, five wounded in a fierce gun battle in the holy city of Karbala. Harris Whitbeck joins us live from Baghdad -- give us an update, Harris.</s>HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we understand that gun battle in Karbala is still ongoing. A CNN crew is on its way and other photographers who have tried to reach the area have not been able to get there, precisely because of the ongoing firefight. The incident occurred when a joint military police patrol. U.S. military police and Iraqi policemen, were patrolling Karbala when they came upon a group of between 20 and 30 armed men. A firefight ensued. The toll so far is three U.S. military policemen dead, two Iraqi policemen dead and seven others wounded. Now, apparently the patrol was trying to disarm this group. It's being described by U.S. military sources as a previously unknown armed Shia faction. There has been a history of divisiveness and different factions cropping up within the Shia community and this is one of those factions that have been engaging in firefights within, with other factions, for the last several days. Again, this happened in Karbala and that is one of the areas of influences of a Shiite cleric who just, a few days ago, declared that he was going to form a new Iraqi government. However, he backed away from that declaration after receiving no visible popular support -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: But this unarmed faction that we're talking about, do we know that it was connected to this Shiite cleric?</s>WHITBECK: Well, it was an unknown faction, Carol, and no, it is not known whether it was connected to him or whether it was against him. The point is that it was well armed. They have rocket propelled grenade launchers and AK-47s, which are the weapons that apparently were being used here in this firefight.</s>COSTELLO: Harris Whitbeck reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
Another Deadly Day for American Troops