Three U.S. troops killed in Iraq's Basra: military

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed in an attack on a base in Iraq's southern province of Basra, the U.S. military said in a statement Friday.

The soldiers were killed by "indirect fire" Thursday night, the military said, but did not give further details.

Attacks on Western forces in Basra are rare, and an Iraqi security crackdown on Basra city and the surrounding province last year wrested the region from militia and gang control.

U.S. forces have taken over supporting Iraqi security forces in the country's mostly Shi'ite south after British troops stationed there ended their mission earlier this year.

(Writing by Mohammed Abbas)