Two US soldiers reported killed by Iraqi in Mosul

Two U.S. soldiers were shot and killed and six were wounded Wednesday by an Iraqi soldier after an altercation in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi security sources and witnesses said. The shooter was killed by other American soldiers, the witnesses said. A spokeswoman for the U.S. military in northern Iraq, Major Peggy Kageleiry, confirmed that the Americans were shot in what she described as "a firefight." She declined to provide any information regarding the circumstances of the incident and would not confirm whether the shooter was an Iraqi soldier. She said the incident was under investigation. Iraqi police and Iraqi Army sources, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of facing retribution from commanders for their comments, provided some details. The sources said that an American military patrol had stopped Wednesday afternoon to inspect a checkpoint staffed by Iraqi soldiers in the predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhood of Zanjili on Mosul's west side. A heated argument ensued between one of the Americans and an Iraqi soldier identified as Barzan Mohammed Abdullah, prompting the American to curse the Iraqi, spit in his face and then slap him, the Iraqi sources said. The Iraqi soldier then opened fire on the Americans, the Iraqi sources said, killing two and wounding six. Other American soldiers then responded with a barrage of fire directed at the Iraqi soldier, the Iraqi sources said, killing him. That account of events was corroborated by a civilian who lives in Zanjili, a notoriously violent part of Mosul. There are about 5,000 U.S. soldiers in Nineveh Province, of which Mosul is the capital. About 600 soldiers were recently sent to Mosul from Diyala Province to take part in a new military operation. Mosul was also the scene of a sectarian killing Wednesday that underscored the tensions that continue to plague the city. The police said two Christian women were murdered and their mother seriously wounded. The killings came less than two weeks after church leaders and the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki urged more than 2,000 families that had fled a wave of attacks against Christians in Mosul in September and October to return to the city. The government had guaranteed their safety. It is estimated by church leaders that 400 to 700 families have so far returned from the relative safety of the Nineveh Plain, a predominantly Christian stretch of villages northeast of the city protected by forces from the neighboring Kurdistan region. Mosul is home to a mix of Sunni insurgents linked to both the former regime of Saddam Hussein and to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. They continue to be active in the city despite numerous major operations in the past, including one this summer. The whole province is also the scene of escalating tensions between the central government the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. An employee of The New York Times in Mosul contributed reporting. Bombs kill 23 in Baghdad A series of bombings shook the capital for the third consecutive day Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding about 90, The Associated Press reported from Baghdad. The Iraqi military said it was taking measures to curb "the increasing number of terrorist attacks" in the city. A military spokesman said the measures would include stepped up intelligence gathering and pre-emptive strikes on suspected extremists. The first car bomb ripped through a bustling section of central Baghdad during the Wednesday morning rush hour, killing 4 people and wounding 15. The blast occurred around 9:30 a.m. off Nasir Square in the heart of the city - a busy neighborhood of shops, pharmacies and photography stores. A second car bomb exploded near the Baidha secondary school in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab in north Baghdad. The police said 5 people were killed and 12 were wounded. In the Shiite district of New Baghdad, a bomb exploded around 5 p.m. Moments later, a car bomb blew up in the same area after the police arrived at the scene of the first blast. The police and hospital officials gave an initial total of 14 dead from those two explosions, including 3 children and 2 women. Twelve children, 8 women and 6 policemen were among the 60 wounded. The attacks Wednesday followed two days of morning rush hour blasts in Baghdad that killed more than 30 people and wounded at least 70. The increase in bombings has occurred despite security gains in recent months that have seen violence drop sharply in the capital. Many of the attacks have targeted police and army patrols, government officials heading to work, and commuters. In the first nine days of November, there were at least 19 bombings in Baghdad, compared with 28 for all of October and 22 in September. The rise in attacks also comes as U.S. and Iraqi officials try to hammer out a final agreement on a security deal that would keep U.S. troops in Iraq until the end of 2011. The security pact has drawn sharp criticism, especially from the majority Shiite community. The current United Nations mandate authorizing the U.S. presence in Iraq expires at the end of December. Without a security agreement or a new UN mandate, the U.S. military would have to cease operations in Iraq.