BAGHDAD — An al-Qaeda-linked insurgent shot and killed his own father as he slept in his bed Friday for refusing to quit his job as an Iraqi interpreter for the U.S. military, police said, a rare deadly attack on a close family member over allegations of collaborating with the enemy.
Hameed al-Daraji, 50, worked as a contractor and translator for the U.S. military for seven years since shortly after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
He was shot in the chest about 3 a.m. while sleeping in his house in Samarra, a former insurgent stronghold 60 miles north of Baghdad, said police Lt. Emad Muhsin.
Authorities arrested the son and his cousin, saying the young men apparently were trying to prove their loyalty after rejoining the insurgency. Police were also looking for another son who is alleged to have taken part in the attack.
Citing confessions, police said the son whom they arrested, Abdul-Halim Hameed, 30, was a former member of al-Qaeda in Iraq who quit the terrorism network in mid-2007 under pressure from U.S.-Iraqi security operations that have led to a sharp drop in violence in the area.
Col. Hazim Ali, a senior security official in Samarra, said Hameed, his 19-year-old cousin and 24-year-old brother remained committed to extremist causes.
The U.S. military said it was looking into the report.
The Samarra assault brought into focus the fears of Iraqis who have worked with Americans and are worried they will face renewed violence as their employers prepare to leave Iraq by the end of next year.
Already, many have been targeted by extremist groups who view them as traitors. But Iraqis could not think of another case in which a family member killed an immediate relative because of his or her employment with the Americans in Iraq.
