BAGHDAD — An Iraqi soldier opened fire on a U.S. military team Saturday, killing two American soldiers and wounding three, the U.S. military said, in an attack that could sharpen worries about the extent of militant infiltration in Iraq’s security forces.
Iraqi officials described the attacker — who was killed in the gun battle — as a soldier who served as a Sunni Muslim preacher for his unit near Mosul, one of the last urban strongholds for Sunni insurgents.
Such an ambush could increase pressure on the Shiite-led government to try to root out possible turncoats, and it could slow efforts to bring Sunni militiamen into the police and military as rewards for helping battle al-Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent factions.
But any possible slowdown of the Sunni outreach will meet resistance from Washington, which sees the sectarian reconciliation as essential for Iraq’s stability and to keep security gains from rolling back.
A U.S. military statement said the attacker was killed after firing on the U.S. soldiers near the entrance to a combat outpost 12 miles south of Mosul.
A separate gunman fired at other U.S. soldiers at the outpost, then fled, said Maj. Derrick Cheng, a spokesman for American forces in northern Iraq.
In the past, attackers have used military and police uniforms to bypass checkpoints and gain access to heavily guarded bases. But several Iraqi military officials said the gunman was a low-ranking Iraqi soldier.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
It was the latest case of a member of Iraq’s security forces targeting U.S. troops. On Feb. 24, two Iraqi police officers in Mosul opened fire on a visiting U.S. military team, killing one American soldier and an interpreter. The gunmen remain fugitives.
Saturday’s attack follows the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since September, with 18 American soldiers dying in Iraq in April.
