May 2, 4:14 PM EDT
By BRIAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer
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BAGHDAD (AP) -- A gunman wearing an Iraqi army uniform opened fire on a U.S. military team Saturday, killing two American soldiers and wounding three others at a combat outpost in northern Iraq, the military said.
A military statement said the attacker was killed after the ambush-style assault 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Mosul, which is one of the last urban strongholds for Sunni insurgents.
In the past, attackers have used military and police uniforms to bypass checkpoints and gain access to heavily guarded bases. But Iraqi military officials said the gunman was an Iraqi soldier who also served as a Sunni Muslim preacher for an army unit.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The attack will likely elevate worries about militant infiltration in Iraqi security forces as the U.S. military turns over more responsibilities in a phased withdrawal before all American forces leave at the end of 2011.
It also could be one of the few confirmed cases of a member of Iraq's security forces targeting U.S. troops. On Feb. 24, two Iraqi police officers in Mosul opened fire on a visiting U.S. military team, killing one American soldier and an interpreter. The gunmen remain fugitives.
Earlier this week, a U.S. military spokesman, 1st Lt. John Brimley, called the February shooting "definitely an anomaly."
The attack follows the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since September - with 18 American soldiers dying in Iraq in April.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, security patrols were boosted after an attempted suicide bombing Friday was foiled by guards at the last moment at a Shiite mosque.
Authorities identified the would-be attacker as a Syrian teenager who they believe was recruited by al-Qaida in Iraq. The suspect - 19-year-old Ammar Afif Hamada - was tackled on the doorsteps of the mosque while it was filled with worshippers.
The dramatic capture was welcome good news for Iraqi authorities after a spike in blasts by suspected Sunni insurgents that have claimed more than 200 lives since late April and raised question about the durability of recent security gains.
It also could offer investigators insights into insurgent operations in northern Iraq and smuggling routes from Syria - long considered one of the main pipelines to replenish insurgent ranks from across the region.
According to a police officer involved in the investigation, Hamada fired a pistol at one guard who tried to stop him. Then another guard tackled him as he continued toward the mosque's main hall, grabbing the attacker's hands to prevent him from detonating an explosives belt packed with grenades and connected to a trigger in the suspect's digital watch.
The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
Hamada traveled from Syria to the northern city of Mosul about a week ago, then arrived Wednesday in Kirkuk, where he was moved from safe house to safe house in mainly Sunni areas, the police officer said.
Kirkuk police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef confirmed the details and said Hamada has been an al-Qaida operative in Iraq for the past four years and has confessed to participation in many operations in Diyala province and Baghdad.
Hamada, meanwhile, was being treated for serious head injuries at a hospital in Kirkuk after being beaten by guards and worshippers at the scene, police said.
Tensions have risen in Kirkuk as Kurdish leaders seek to incorporate it into their semiautonomous area, making it one of the most politically sensitive issues for Iraqi leaders and for U.S. military commanders preparing to withdraw their troops by the end of 2011.
The showdown is so volatile that Kirkuk was excluded from regional elections in January and the United Nations has offered a proposal for compromise plans.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" in a segment to air Sunday, described Kirkuk's ethnic rifts as one of Iraq's most complicated puzzles.
"From an Arab-Kurd point of view, Kirkuk is a bigger problem by far than Mosul," he said. "Mosul is really still a security problem from the standpoint of al-Qaida is still using that as kind of their last redoubt, if you will. But, you know, I think (the Iraqis) will continue to work these things through."
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MOSSAD have been carrying out assassinations in Iraq in collaboration with the CIA. Their offices were destroyed many times in Al-Rasheed Hotel and near Baghdad Airport, forcing them to occupy part of the American embassy inside the Green Zone. There are other MOSSAD units operating undercover in the North mainly in agricultural development and military training in Sueimania, Arbil, Dhouk and near Kirkuk. The Iraqi resistance is preparing a special treatment for them hoping that they stay away from MOSSAD overt or covert criminal activities in Iraq.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
US soldiers will not appear in Iraqi courts to answer any charges relating to a raid this week that killed two people in Iraq and triggered condemnation from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the US military has said.
REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen/Files
So where is SOFA? If he can't enforce it, we will enforce it by FORCE:
An Iraqi police lieutenant-colonel in Mosul, who declined to be named, said the man who shot the U.S. soldiers was an Iraqi soldier who also acted as an imam at an Iraqi military training centre in Hamam al-Alil.
He said the American soldiers were doing exercises in the training centre's yard at the time of the attack. He did not know what had happened to the attacker afterwards.
Saad Ali al-Jubouri, mayor of Hammam al-Alil, said he saw U.S. helicopters hovering the area in the aftermath of the attack and said the roads leading to the training centre had been sealed off.
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Most American soldiers are young, frightened and share disrespect and a strong hate for the Iraqis. After dissolving the mighty Iraqi army, the Americans have been trying to replace it with a number of quasi-security forces that protect them and police the occupation.
But Iraqis are Iraqis known for being short-fused and fearless super patriots with strong religious and cultural ties. Insulting any Iraq is usually avenged on the spot, disregarding the consequence. Here are some examples:
May 02.09: An Iraqi soldier, Hussein Al-Dulaimi, shot and killed two US soldiers and wounded three others at Hamam Al-Aleel, 20 KM south of Mousul after being insulted the day before by US soldiers guarding the entrance to Al-Ghizlani camp.
In February 2009: Two Iraqi police officers shot and killed four US soldiers along with their interpreter.
In November 2008: Four US soldiers were shot dead by an Iraqi soldier following an altercation at a check point where the Iraqi soldier was insulted by a group of US military personnel.
In October 2008: Four US soldiers were shot dead and a number of others was wounded by an Iraqi soldier seeing US military kicking and beating a 17-year old girl during a raid on one of the houses.
In December 2007: Two US soldiers were shot dead by an Iraqi soldier who was slapped slapped on the face while on a joint patrol.
The hatred for the Americans and their mercenaries is too deep. Iraqis usually wash insults with blood. The biggest insult to Iraqis is non-personal, manifested by the desecration of their sacred land by the boots of criminal US soldires and mercenaries.
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