Iraqi serviceman accused of killing two U.S. soldiers

BAGHDAD – An Iraqi serviceman shot and killed two U.S. soldiers during a patrol last month in the northern city of Mosul, one of the few reported cases of an Iraqi soldier intentionally killing his U.S. counterparts since the 2003 invasion, Iraqi and American officers said Saturday.

The shooting took place Dec. 26 when a joint American-Iraqi patrol came under fire as they tried to set up a combat outpost in a dangerous neighborhood. The Iraqi military said the soldier shot the two U.S. soldiers during the firefight and wounded several others.

The Iraqi soldier, a 25-year-old from a suburb south of Mosul, has ties to armed insurgent groups and recently joined the Iraqi army, said Brig. Gen. Mutaa al-Khazraji, commander of the 2nd Iraqi Army Division in Mosul, who declined to reveal the soldier’s name.

In a statement released Saturday night, an anti-American Sunni group identified the Iraqi soldier as Qaisar Saadi al-Jubory and said he shot the Americans after their unit refused to stop beating a pregnant woman. “We do what we want,” the Iraqi said the U.S. troops told him, according to the statement, which was posted on the Web site of the Association of Muslim Scholars.

Iraqi and American officials said there did not appear to be any basis to accusations that the U.S. soldiers had mistreated civilians. “It is baseless and untrue,” Khazraji said.

“There is no indication of anything like that,” said a senior U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. “He just did it, and it’s not clear what his motivation was. It appears to have been a total surprise.”

In a statement issued Dec. 26, the U.S. military said only that Capt. Rowdy J. Inman, 38, of Panorama Village, Texas, and Sgt. Benjamin B. Portell, 27, of Bakersfield, Calif., died “from wounds sustained from small-arms fire while conducting operations.” Both men were assigned to the 3rd Squadron of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based in Fort Hood, Texas.

The U.S. military disclosed the circumstances of the deaths Saturday after Iraqi commanders said the two men had been shot by the Iraqi soldier. The matter is under investigation by both countries.

The U.S. military command in Baghdad said Saturday that the Iraqi, who also wounded three other soldiers and a civilian interpreter, fled the scene after the shooting but was later captured.

Two Iraqi soldiers are being held in connection with the incident, U.S. officials said, suggesting that the alleged shooter had at least one accomplice.