Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Ten members of an Iraqi security agency were killed and five policemen injured today when U.S. soldiers shot them in the second ``friendly fire'' incident in two days in the central Iraqi town of Fallujah, Agence France-Presse cited police as saying.

The officers were in two vehicles in pursuit of gunmen when U.S. soldiers outside the Jordanian Red Crescent hospital opened fire as they reached the building, north of the town, AFP said, citing the district's patrol chief, Lieutenant Colonel Jalal Sabri. The dead were from the Facilities Protection Services and the injured were police, Police Chief Qahtan Adnan Hamad told AFP.

Several U.S. rounds hit the hospital, AFP reported. Angry Fallujah residents demonstrated outside the area governor's office and police headquarters to protest the shooting, AFP reported. In a similar incident two days ago, an Iraqi police officer was killed and another was wounded by U.S. soldiers after a bombing outside Fallujah, AFP reported.

The U.S. military said it is checking into reports of today's incident. ``We have not confirmed anything from our side,'' Sergeant Amy Abbott, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Central Command in Baghdad, said in a telephone interview.

(AFP, 9-12)

Last Updated: September 12, 2003 06:21 EDT