AN IRAQI soldier opened fire on US troops during a joint patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing two and wounding three others along with a civilian interpreter, Iraqi and US officials said yesterday.
The US military said it was not clear why the Iraqi soldier had opened fire on Boxing Day, but two Iraqi generals said the attacker had links to Sunni Arab insurgent groups.
It is believed to be the first reported incident in which an Iraqi soldie
r has deliberately killed US servicemen since Saddam Hussein was toppled in the US-led invasion in 2003.
The US military said in a statement the two slain soldiers were Captain Rowdy Inman and Sergeant Benjamin Portell, both assigned to 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, III Corps, based in Fort Hood, Texas.
"The Iraqi soldier who allegedly opened fire fled the scene but was identified by other Iraqi army personnel and was then apprehended. Two Iraqi army soldiers are now being held in connection with the incident," the military said.
In response to the shooting, the Iraqi army has tightened screening of new recruits in the 2nd Division, which controls the Mosul region, and is carrying out more thorough background checks on serving soldiers, the Iraqi generals said.
US and Iraqi troops have been conducting joint patrols as part of a new US counter-insurgency strategy to curb sectarian violence and improve the capabilities of Iraq's military, which will take over more security responsibilities to allow US forces to begin withdrawing from Iraq.
The commander of the Iraqi army's 2nd Division, Brigadier-General Mutaa al-Khazraji, said the US soldiers were killed during a joint patrol in Hermat in western Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad.
The patrol "was attacked by gunmen and the soldier abused the situation and killed the two soldiers. The soldier was an insurgent infiltrator," Khazraji said.
US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel James Hutton declined comment on whether the incident was likely to create mistrust between Iraqi and US soldiers, who live and work together in joint security stations across Iraq.
"We are partnering with the Iraqi army all over the country in almost all the operations we conduct," he said.
Brigadier-General Noor al-Din Hussein, commander of the Iraqi army's 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, said the Iraqi soldier had only been in the army for one year and was an Arab from the Jubouri tribe. Most soldiers serving in the Mosul area are from Iraq's Kurdish minority.
"There is some penetration (by insurgents] and we want to purify the Iraqi army. Our soldiers are good and doing well. This is the first time something like this has happened," Hussein said.
He said he and Khazraji had attended a memorial service for the slain soldiers. The two generals said the US military were allowing the Iraqi military to handle the investigation.
US commanders have been praising the improving abilities of the Iraqi military, which was rebuilt from scratch after the US invasion and has been beset by a high desertion rate and some units refusing to deploy outside their home provinces.
American generals say Iraqi units have performed well in a series of counter-insurgency operations that have contributed to a 60% drop in violence in Iraq since June 2007.
• Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki returned to Baghdad yesterday and said he was in good health after flying to London a week ago for tests. "I'm assuring my brothers my health is very good and I will resume office immediately," he said.
Maliki flew to London on December 29 for unspecified medical tests and met Prime Minister Gordon Brown for talks while he was there. An official in Maliki's office said the Iraqi PM had been suffering from mild exhaustion.
Maliki will be under pressure from Washington in the coming year to build on military gains that have improved security by passing key laws seen as crucial to promoting national reconciliation between Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.
The main political blocs have so far failed to agree a new law that will equitably share Iraq's oil wealth and measures to allow provincial elections to be held in 2008 and former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to public life.
