Two US soldiers killed during a joint US-Iraq patrol in the northern city of Mosul last week were deliberately shot by an Iraqi soldier, the US and Iraqi militaries said yesterday.
The announcement marks the first time such an incident has been made public since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Meanwhile a spate of roadside bombs yesterday in Iraq's restive Diyala Province killed seven people, Iraqi officials said.
"Two US soldiers killed during a combined Iraqi Army and Coalition operation in Nineveh Province on Dec. 26 were allegedly shot by an Iraqi soldier," the US military said in a statement. "For reasons that are as yet unknown, at least one Iraqi army soldier allegedly opened fire killing Captain Rowdy Inman and Sergeant Benjamin Portell."
The incident happened when US and Iraqi soldiers were setting up a combat outpost, it said, adding that three other US soldiers and a civilian interpreter were wounded.
"The Iraqi soldier who allegedly opened fire fled the scene but was identified by other Iraqi Army personnel and was then apprehended," the statement said. "Two Iraqi Army soldiers are now being held in connection with the incident."
The commander of the Iraqi army's 2nd Division, Brigadier-General Mutaa al-Khazarji, confirmed the incident and said it occurred during a joint patrol by Iraqi and US troops in the western Hermat neighborhood of Mosul, 370km north of Baghdad.
"During clashes between the joint patrol and insurgents, an Iraqi soldier working for the terrorists opened fire on the American soldiers killing two of them," Khazarji said.
The attacker was arrested and put in an Iraqi army prison, said another senior Iraqi officer.
"Investigations are under way. We will announce the results later," Lieutenant-Colonel Hamed Zebari said.
Yesterday's attacks in Diyala came a day after a 24-hour traffic ban was enforced in major cities in the province, one of the most dangerous in Iraq, in a bid to curb a recent spate of bombings and suicide attacks.
Police Major Ahmad Hassen said six people were killed when their minibus was blown up by a roadside bomb near the town of Al-Sadiyah, 100km northeast of the provincial capital Baqubah.
"Three men, two women and a child were killed," Hassen said, adding that another two men and a woman were wounded in the blast.
In Baqubah itself, a roadside bomb killed one person and wounded another, army Major Ahmad Ibrahim said.
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