FBI to investigate Defense civilian killings in Iraq

U.S. and Iraqi officials working for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad were reeling Wednesday after the brutal deaths of three colleagues killed in what CPA officials called "a targeted act of terrorism."

Two Americans, both civilian employees of the Defense Department, and their Iraqi translator were found dead in the trunk of a car stopped by Iraqi police south of Baghdad near Hilla, according to a senior Defense official.

The employees' names were not released pending notification of their families.

U.S. Ambassador Paul Bremer requested that an FBI team be deployed to lead the investigation in cooperation with the Iraqi police service and the coalition forces, said Shane Wolfe, a CPA spokesman.

Press reports gave differing accounts of the circumstances surrounding the killings. Wolfe declined to comment, except to say that several of those reports were inaccurate.

"It's a real sensitive time right now," Wolfe said. "The investigation is just beginning."