Three U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq

[Geee]

Wall Street Journal:


BAGHDAD—Three American soldiers were killed and one was wounded in two separate attacks in Iraq on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

The deadlier of the attacks happened in the morning when a man dressed in an Iraqi army uniform opened fire at U.S. soldiers while they were conducting a training session for Iraqi forces at a military base on the outskirts of the volatile northern city of Mosul, Col. Barry A. Johnson, spokesman for the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said.

The attacker killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded a third before he was shot dead, Col. Johnson said, declining to give further details because the attack was under investigation. The wounded soldier was flown to a field hospital at the Balad air base north of Baghdad for treatment, he said.

A third U.S. soldier was killed in a separate attack in central Iraq, while "conducting operations," according to a military statement. The U.S. Army's central division includes Baghdad and the western Anbar Province. Col. Johnson said he couldn't discuss the second attack.

This isn't the first time U.S. soldiers have been attacked by members of Iraq's security forces or insurgents dressed like them. In September an Iraqi soldier shot and killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded nine inside an Iraqi army base in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, north of Baghdad. The troops were resting between joint operations with Iraqi forces against insurgents in the area when the attack occurred.

A U.S. soldier was killed by Iraqi police officers inside a police station in Mosul in February 2009, while two other American soldiers were shot dead by an Iraqi soldier at a combat outpost also in Mosul in November 2008.

The deaths on Saturday brought to five the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the start of the year, underscoring the fragility of the security situation and the dangers that remain, despite a dramatic drop in overall violence and the shift in the U.S. mission in the country last August.

[Casino67]

It has been reported that Iragi army uniforms can be purchased at many street vendor sites in Baghdad.

[Valin]

 

 

 

 

[Pepper]

May they Rest in Peace.