BAGHDAD — An Iraqi soldier sprayed automatic weapons fire Wednesday at U.S. soldiers at an Iraqi military base in Mosul, killing two and wounding six others before he died in a hail of bullets, an American general said.
In Baghdad, bombers struck the capital for a third straight day, killing 23 people and wounding scores in a string of attacks in mostly Shiite areas. The U.S. military said dozens were injured but it couldn’t confirm any fatalities.
Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told The Associated Press the “premeditated” attack occurred in a courtyard as the soldiers waited for their two lieutenants to finish a meeting with an Iraqi army company commander.
Hertling, who said he had spoken with some of the wounded troops, disputed Iraqi accounts that the shooting followed a heated argument between the Iraqi soldier and the Americans.
Hertling said the attacker strolled into the courtyard carrying a Kalashnikov rifle and a drum of ammunition, walked to a corner, turned and opened fire.
“One shot was aimed and the rest was literally a spray,” he said. “There was no argument, no spitting, no slapping, none of that occurred.”
The six wounded American soldiers were expected to recover, Hertling said.
He said senior Iraqi army and police commanders in Mosul had expressed regret over the shooting and promised a joint investigation.
It was the second such shooting in Mosul in a year, raising questions about the professionalism and preparedness of Iraqi security forces and their relations with their American partners.
Last December, an Iraqi soldier allegedly shot and killed a U.S. captain and a sergeant during a joint operation in Mosul, where al-Qaeda and other Sunni insurgent groups still operate.
Also in Mosul, two Christian sisters were killed and their mother was wounded in an attack on their home Wednesday, police said. The attackers rigged the house with booby traps, and one Iraqi policeman was injured when he came to investigate the slayings, Hertling said.
As violence raged in Mosul, a string of bombings rocked Baghdad for the third consecutive day, killing 23 people and wounding about 90 others, police said. The Iraqi army acknowledged the rise in attacks and said it was taking measures to curb “the increasing number of terrorist attacks” in the city.
The first car bomb blew up in a bustling mostly Shiite section of downtown Baghdad during the Wednesday morning rush hour, killing four people and injuring 15.
A second car bomb exploded near a school in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab in north Baghdad. Iraqi police said five people were killed and 12 wounded. A roadside bomb wounded seven people in another part of Shaab, police said.
