A preliminary result of an investigation into Tuesday’s shooting incident, during which two U. S. soldiers were killed by an Iraqi soldier in northern Iraq, indicated that the attack was a “deliberate” one, the U.S. military said in a statement on Wednesday.
“A preliminary review of reports from the scene indicates the attack was a deliberate one,” said the statement.
The U.S. military launched an investigation into the shooting incident that took place on Tuesday afternoon at an Iraqi military base near the city of Tuz Khurmato, some 200 km north of Baghdad, the statement said.
“The detailed investigation will clarify the facts and actions of all involved,” it added.
An earlier U.S. military statement said that two U.S. soldiers were killed and nine others injured inside an Iraqi army commando compound near the city of Tuz Khurmato in Salahudin province.
It said the U.S. soldiers were part of a security element for a U.S. company commander who was meeting with members of Iraqi security forces at the base.
“The event occurred at approximately local time 3:50 p.m. (1250 GMT) when a person wearing Iraqi army uniform opened fire on the soldiers,” said the statement, adding that the U.S. soldiers fired back and killed the Iraqi soldier.
Late on Tuesday, an Iraqi security source told Xinhua that an Iraqi soldier identified as Soran Rahman Saleh from the fourth division opened fire in the afternoon at U.S. soldiers at the military base after a quarrel, killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding several others.
The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq to about 4,418, since the outbreak of the U.S.- led war on Iraq in 2003, according to media account based on Pentagon figures.
The deaths are the first since the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq in the end of August.