FILE - This U.S. Army photo made available by the Russell family on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 shows U.S. Army Sgt. John M. Russell. His family remembers Russell as a loving son, a patriot, a good man -- far different from the man who stands accused of the deadliest act of soldier-on-soldier violence in the six-year war in Iraq.
(AP Photo/Family photo)
Mon May 11, 2009 11:41am EDT
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Five soldiers from the U.S.-led foreign military force in Iraq were shot dead at one of the main U.S. bases in Baghdad Monday, the U.S. military said.
The U.S. military statement did not give further details about the shooting or the identity of those killed at the sprawling base, Camp Liberty, next to Baghdad airport.
Earlier this month, two U.S. soldiers were killed by a man wearing an Iraqi Army uniform at an Iraqi military training center in northern Iraq.
Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq, but insurgent attacks continue, and a rash of major bombings has raised questions about security less than two months before U.S. forces are due to withdraw combat troops from urban bases.
Thirteen U.S. soldiers were killed in combat in April, including five who were killed in a single attack in the restive northern city of Mosul.
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U.S. soldier kills 5 at US base in Baghdad
11 May 2009 16:13:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds background, additional details)
BAGHDAD, May 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier opened fire on fellow troops at one of the main U.S. bases in Baghdad on Monday, killing five, the U.S. military said.
"The shooter is a U.S. soldier and he is in custody," said Marine Corps Lieutenant Tom Garnett, a U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.
U.S. officials plan to charge the shooter later today.
The shooting took place around 2 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) at Camp Liberty, a sprawling, dusty base located next to the Baghdad airport.
"This is certainly an unexpected and tragic event," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
"Any time we lose one of our own, it affects us all," said Colonel John Robinson, a U.S. spokesman in Baghdad.
The number of U.S. soldiers killed in the shooting matched the death toll from a truck bomb in northern Iraq last month, which was the single deadliest incident for U.S. troops in more than a year.
Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq, but insurgent attacks continue and a rash of major bombings has raised questions about security less than two months before U.S. forces are due to withdraw combat troops from urban bases.
That transition is one major milestone ahead of an end to U.S. combat operations in August 2010 and a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. There are currently about 134,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Thirteen U.S. soldiers were killed in combat in April.
An attack this month underscored some officials' concerns about violence against U.S. forces by militants who have infiltrated Iraqi security forces.
On May 2, two U.S. soldiers were killed by a man wearing an Iraqi Army uniform at an Iraqi military training centre in northern Iraq. (Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington; editing by Jon Boyle)
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US military releases names of victims of Iraq murder
AFP
US military releases names of victims of Iraq murder AFP/DoD – The US Defense Department on Wednesday released the names of those allegedly killed by a fellow US soldier …
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Wed May 13, 12:58 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Defense Department on Wednesday released the names of those allegedly killed by a fellow US soldier in a shooting spree in Iraq.
Sergeant John Russell, whose unit is preparing to leave Iraq within months, has been charged with murder after he allegedly shot dead five colleagues at a mental health counseling clinic at an American base in Baghdad.
Two medical officers working at the clinic were among those killed, Navy Commander Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina, and Major Matthew Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas.
Three enlisted soldiers who happened to be there at the time of the shooting were also killed: Sergeant Christian Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, New Jersey, Specialist Jacob Barton, 20, of Lenox, Missouri and Private Michael Yates, 19, of Federalsburg, Maryland.
The five died "from injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident" at the Camp Liberty base, the Pentagon said in a statement. The incident remained under investigation.
Due to concerns over the state of Russell's mental health, his commanding officer about a week earlier had ordered that the soldier's weapon be confiscated and that he should go for counseling, a US military spokesman said in Baghdad on Tuesday.
However, details of the chronology of events and more specifically how Russell, who was on his third tour of Iraq, had come to acquire the second weapon that allowed him to allegedly shoot his comrades were still being investigated.
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Suspect in Iraq clinic shooting now in Kuwait
Tue May 19, 12:15 am ET
BAGHDAD – The U.S. military says an Army sergeant charged in this month's fatal shooting of five soldiers at a mental health clinic on a Baghdad base has left Iraq.
Sgt. John M. Russell is being held in pre-trial confinement at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. That's according to a U.S. spokesman, Lt. Col. Brian Tribus.
Tribus did not say when Russell left Iraq or whether he would be sent on to Germany or the United States.
Russell was taken into custody May 11 after he allegedly opened fire in a counseling center at Camp Liberty, killing five U.S. soldiers. The case has drawn attention to the problem of stress in the military after long and frequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Russell was finishing up his third tour in Iraq.
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