The U.S. military said on Saturday that an Iraqi soldier shot dead two U.S. soldiers during a combined operation in Nineveh province on Dec. 26.
The two soldiers were identified by the U.S. military as Capt. Rowdy Inman and Sgt. Benjamin Portell. Three other U.S. soldiers and one civilian interpreter were also wounded in the attack, a military statement said.
The incident took place when the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers were conducting operations to establish a combat outpost in the province, the statement said.
The Iraqi soldier was allegedly fled the scene after the attack but was then arrested along with two other soldiers who is suspected of having connection with the incident, it said, adding that the investigation is under way.
Brigadier-General Mutaa al-Khazraji, the commander of the Iraqi Army 2nd Division, said "the soldier is apparently an insurgent infiltrator, who was part of a joint U.S. and Iraqi patrol conducting security operation in the al-Haramat area in western the city of Mosul on December 26."
"When the patrol came under insurgent fire, the soldier opened fire at U.S. soldiers and killed two of them," Khazraji told Xinhua.
Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, is located some 400 km north of Baghdad.
Source:Xinhua
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