An Iraqi soldier opened fire on American soldiers after a quarrel broke out Wednesday in northern Iraq, killing two of them and wounding six in a military compound before he was shot to death, officials said.
The U.S. military said the attack on the American soldiers occurred in an Iraqi army compound in Mosul, which has been the focus of intensive joint U.S.-Iraqi operations against al-Qaeda in Iraq. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Chris Stagner said the assailant was believed to be an Iraqi soldier.
The Iraqi soldier opened fire on the Americans after a quarrel broke out between them in, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari said. According to him, the Americans then killed the Iraqi soldier, who was identified as Barzan al-Hadidi.
The shooting took place as a series of bombings shook Baghdad for the third consecutive day, killing 23 people and injuring about 90, police said, according to AFP. The Iraqi military said it was taking measures to curb "the increasing number of terrorist attacks" in the city.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the measures would include stepped up intelligence gathering and pre-emptive strikes on suspected extremists.
In Baghdad, the first car bomb ripped through a bustling section of downtown Baghdad during the Wednesday morning rush hour, killing four people and injuring 15. The explosion occurred off Nasir Square in the heart of the city. A second car bomb exploded near a secondary school in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab in north Baghdad. Iraqi police said five people were killed and 12 wounded.
Two bombs blew up within moments of each other in the Shiite district of New Baghdad, with the second explosion occurring just after police arrived to investigate the first. Police and hospital officials gave an initial total of 14 dead, including three children and two women.
In the first nine days of November, there were at least 19 bombings in Baghdad, compared with 28 for all of October and 22 in September.
