Two Polish soldiers were injured in Iraq on Wednesday when their patrol was attacked with hand grenades in the central city of Diwaniyah, the Polish military said. The joint Polish-Iraqi patrol was driving through Diwaniyah on Wednesday morning when a grenade exploded near one of their vehicles, injuring two Poles, said Col. Zdzislaw Gnatowski, a Polish army spokesman in Warsaw. The troops fired back, injuring several attackers, Gnatowski said. He provided no further details on the shooting. The two Poles were taken to a U.S. military hospital in Diwaniyah for treatment to injuries to their hands and legs. None of the wounds were life-threatening, The Associated Press quoted Gnatowski as saying. Poland has lost 17 troops, two journalists and two bodyguards since its troops entered Iraq in 2003. Poland, a staunch U.S ally, has some 1,700 troops in central Iraq, where it leads a multinational coalition force. Warsaw plans to pull out its troops at the start of 2006.
