The commander said the four men — identified by the Telegraph as employees of the Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root — realized their convoy had taken a wrong turn and were desperately trying to escape from the town when their vehicle was attacked by insurgents.

Two contractors who were not killed in the initial firing were dragged from their vehicle, and one was shot in the back of the head, the newspaper said. The crowd “doused the other with petrol and set him alight. Barefoot children, yelping in delight, piled straw on to the screaming man’s body to stoke the flames,” according to the report.

The crowd then “dragged their corpses through the street, chanting anti-U.S. slogans,” the newspaper reported.