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WORLD> Middle East
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Iraqi soldier kills 2 US soldiers, wounds 3
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-03 09:38 BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi soldier opened fire on a US military team Saturday, killing two American soldiers and wounding three, the US military said, in an attack that could sharpen worries about the extent of militant infiltration in Iraq's security forces.
Iraqi officials described the attacker - who was killed in the gunbattle - as a soldier who also served as a Sunni Muslim preacher for his unit near Mosul, which is one of the last urban strongholds for Sunni insurgents.
But any possible slowdown of the Sunni outreach will meet resistance from Washington, which sees the sectarian reconciliation as essential for Iraq's stability and to keep security gains from rolling back. A US military statement said the attacker was killed after firing on the US soldiers near the entrance to a combat outpost 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Mosul. A separate gunman fired at other US soldiers at the outpost, then fled, according to Maj. Derrick Cheng, a spokesman for American forces in northern Iraq. In the past, attackers have used military and police uniforms to bypass checkpoints and gain access to heavily guarded bases. But several Iraqi military officials said the gunman was a low-ranking Iraqi soldier. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. It was the latest case of a member of Iraq's security forces targeting US troops. On Feb. 24, two Iraqi police officers in Mosul opened fire on a visiting US military team, killing one American soldier and an interpreter. The gunmen remain fugitives. Earlier this week, a US military spokesman, 1st Lt. John Brimley, called the February shooting "definitely an anomaly." Saturday's attack follows the deadliest month for US troops in Iraq since September - with 18 American soldiers dying in Iraq in April. Elsewhere, US-backed Iraqi troops arrested the leader of a Sunni paramilitary group north of Baghdad in the town of Duluiyah. Mullah Nadhim al-Jubouri, and his two brothers, Yassir and Thakir, were arrested on warrants accusing them of terrorism, the US military said, without elaborating. The move was likely to spark anger among members of the so-called Awakening Councils, which have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq in what is considered a key factor in the drop in violence. The Iraqi government has assumed control of the groups from the US military, but many of the Sunni guards accuse it of failing to pay them and of making unfair arrests. |
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