Iraqi soldier shot dead US troops, both armies say

Why in the world has this story slipped past or been ignored by all the bloggers I read?

How can an Iraqi soldier, supposedly your ally, be trusted to watch your back after such an incident?

Two American soldiers killed during a joint US-Iraq patrol in the northern city of Mosul last week were deliberately shot by an Iraqi soldier, the US and Iraqi militaries said on Saturday.

An Iraqi army officer said the attacker was "working for the terrorists" while the US military said the shooting was "for reasons that are as yet unknown".

It was the first time such an incident, believed to be rare, has been made public since the US-led invasion in 2003.

My guess is this might happen much more often than detected. Under the right conditions, its probably not that difficult for an Iraqi soldier to get away with this sort of thing without getting caught.


Kalashnikov (AK-47)
And in the picture above of the Iraqi soldier, to my untrained eye, that sure looks like he's using an AK-47 which is the weapon used by insurgents. So even if the weapon used to kill a US soldier is identified, its impossible to tell whether or not it was fired by an insurgent.

Via AFP.