Updated: Iraqi police attack US soldiers, killing one RAW STORY

Published: Tuesday February 24, 2009





Print This Email This One US soldier was killed, along with a local interpreter, after two men dressed as Iraqi police attacked them with small arms. Three other soldiers and another Iraqi translator were wounded in the Mosul ambush, the third such incident in the northern city in just over a year.



An Iraqi deputy interior minister condemned the shooting, which one of his officials said was the work of two rogue policemen for whom a manhunt has been launched.



"It was a criminal incident that in no way represents the position of the Iraqi government and Iraqi police," General Hussein Ali Kamel, who is in charge of intelligence at the ministry, told AFP.



Earlier, the official had said two policemen had carried out the attack at the station in central Mosul, shooting dead four US soldiers and their local interpreter. Some confusion later surfaced after conflicting reports about the number of wounded.



After the US military insisted there were no fatalities among its ranks, the Associated Press reported another statement by American officials that one of the four wounded US soldiers had died.



"The military statement gave no other details, saying the attack was under investigation," the wire service said.



The ministry source ruled out an insurgent attack, saying the assailants were known policemen from local tribes. He added that police and US forces had launched a manhunt at the policemen's homes in and around Mosul.



"A police intelligence source the Americans were invited to lunch with Iraqi police at a checkpoint under a bridge," reported the BBC.



"He says when the soldiers arrived, the two policemen - a corporal and a private - opened fire on them, before making their escape."



The latest incident was the third of its kind in Mosul, one of the country's most restive cities, involving American soldiers and Iraqi security forces since January 2008.



The shootings took place during a US army visit to the Mosul headquarters of the Iraqi police in charge of protecting the city's bridges and tunnels, local police said.



On November 12, an Iraqi soldier shot dead two US soldiers before being gunned down. A similar incident took place in January 2007, when an Iraqi soldier opened fire on American troops, killing two US soldiers.



US and Iraqi forces operate together throughout the country. The United States has long said the training of Iraqi troops and police is a central part of its military strategy.



Tuesday morning, Iraqi authorities "arrested 11 Shiite policemen over a spate of killings and kidnappings of Sunni Arabs, including the murder of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's sister, a security official said on Tuesday," according to the Associated Press.



"The announcement came amid government efforts to prove its non-sectarian credentials and after Iraqi authorities on Sunday accused a Sunni MP of ordering a 2007 attack on the parliament canteen that killed eight people."



With wire reports.





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