Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
June 24, 2008
Pg. 11
By Richard A. Oppel Jr.
BAGHDAD — A security guard for an Iraqi politician grabbed his Kalashnikov automatic rifle and opened fire on at least a half-dozen American soldiers, killing two of them, during a meeting with Iraqi officials in a village southeast of Baghdad on Monday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
The number of casualties was in dispute. The American military command in Baghdad said that two American soldiers had been killed and that three others and an interpreter had been wounded. The Interior Ministry official said that in addition to the two soldiers who had been killed, at least six other soldiers had been wounded. The gunman was killed in the firefight.
According to the Interior Ministry official, the attack took place as American soldiers were attending the opening of a park in Madaen, a village along the Tigris River about 20 miles from Baghdad. Madaen was the scene of horrific sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite gangs in the years after the American invasion in 2003. The official described the attacker as a security guard for a member of the provincial council.
A statement issued late Monday by the American military offered a slightly different account, saying the soldiers were shot as they were leaving the local council building just before 1 p.m.
One witness, Hussein al-Dulaimi, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that the assailant — who he said was a Sunni who had been a member of the local municipal council until two years ago — had waited in his car for the Americans to emerge.
“The attacker got out of the car with an AK-47 assault rifle in his hand, and he started to fire on the American soldiers until he was killed by return fire,” Mr. Dulaimi told The Associated Press.
Violence also continued Monday just north of Baghdad in Diyala Province, where Sunni guerrillas have carried out a steady number of bombings and other attacks against Iraqi security forces and members of pro-American tribal alliances known as Awakening Councils.
Two pro-American militia fighters were killed by a large roadside bomb that exploded near a checkpoint in Buhriz, south of the provincial capital of Baquba, according to a provincial security official. Two civilians were wounded in the western Diyala town of Khalis by a roadside bomb, and another Awakening Council member was seriously wounded when he was shot by gunmen about 20 miles east of Baquba.
The violence in Diyala followed deadly attacks in the province on Sunday that left at least 28 Iraqi police officers, soldiers and civilians dead and more than 60 others wounded.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, visiting Iraqi troops in the southern city of Amara, said during a televised appearance that military operations would continue in Diyala.
Mudhafer al-Husaini and Mohamed Hussein contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Diyala Province.
June 24, 2008
Pg. 11
By Richard A. Oppel Jr.
BAGHDAD — A security guard for an Iraqi politician grabbed his Kalashnikov automatic rifle and opened fire on at least a half-dozen American soldiers, killing two of them, during a meeting with Iraqi officials in a village southeast of Baghdad on Monday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
The number of casualties was in dispute. The American military command in Baghdad said that two American soldiers had been killed and that three others and an interpreter had been wounded. The Interior Ministry official said that in addition to the two soldiers who had been killed, at least six other soldiers had been wounded. The gunman was killed in the firefight.
According to the Interior Ministry official, the attack took place as American soldiers were attending the opening of a park in Madaen, a village along the Tigris River about 20 miles from Baghdad. Madaen was the scene of horrific sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite gangs in the years after the American invasion in 2003. The official described the attacker as a security guard for a member of the provincial council.
A statement issued late Monday by the American military offered a slightly different account, saying the soldiers were shot as they were leaving the local council building just before 1 p.m.
One witness, Hussein al-Dulaimi, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that the assailant — who he said was a Sunni who had been a member of the local municipal council until two years ago — had waited in his car for the Americans to emerge.
“The attacker got out of the car with an AK-47 assault rifle in his hand, and he started to fire on the American soldiers until he was killed by return fire,” Mr. Dulaimi told The Associated Press.
Violence also continued Monday just north of Baghdad in Diyala Province, where Sunni guerrillas have carried out a steady number of bombings and other attacks against Iraqi security forces and members of pro-American tribal alliances known as Awakening Councils.
Two pro-American militia fighters were killed by a large roadside bomb that exploded near a checkpoint in Buhriz, south of the provincial capital of Baquba, according to a provincial security official. Two civilians were wounded in the western Diyala town of Khalis by a roadside bomb, and another Awakening Council member was seriously wounded when he was shot by gunmen about 20 miles east of Baquba.
The violence in Diyala followed deadly attacks in the province on Sunday that left at least 28 Iraqi police officers, soldiers and civilians dead and more than 60 others wounded.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, visiting Iraqi troops in the southern city of Amara, said during a televised appearance that military operations would continue in Diyala.
Mudhafer al-Husaini and Mohamed Hussein contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Diyala Province.