US forces captured nearly 60 Iraqi guerrillas in a battle near Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit after an ambush killed three American soldiers, the US military said on Friday. Backed by attack helicopters, US troops battled guerrillas until first light after the 4th Infantry Division soldiers were ambushed and killed in a series of attacks East and West of the Tigris river. ‘‘It seemed to be coordinated,’’ Colonel James Hickey said. Fighting began at 8 pm on Thursday when assailants in a pick-up truck fired on US troops near Awja. Simultaneously, a US Army camp nearby came under attack. Just 15 minutes later, a patrol was hit with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, killing three soldiers. Major Josslyn Aberle said US forces encircled Awja, captured 60 Iraqi fighters and a truck full of machineguns, AK-47 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The pick-up truck involved in the drive-by shooting was followed back to a house where 11 people were arrested after a shoot-out, the US military said, adding there were no Iraqi casualties in the night of fighting. Meanwhile, American troops opened fire on a car carrying Italian diplomat Pietro Cordone, who holds a senior position in Iraq’s US-led administration, killing his Iraqi interpreter, sources said. Cordone’s car was shot at after it repeatedly tried to overtake a US convoy near Tikrit. At the same time, five Iraqi leaders agreed on Thursday on a sweeping security plan calling for most US troops to withdraw to their bases and turn over day-to-day police functions to Iraqi militia forces working under the new Ministry of Interior.
