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Soldiers accidentally kill Sunni leader in Iraq

BAGHDAD — American soldiers accidentally shot and killed the leader of a local U.S.-allied Sunni group Tuesday after coming under attack in a volatile area north of Baghdad, the military said.

The latest friendly fire incident came as tensions have been rising among the groups known as the Sons of Iraq, or awakening councils. The military has credited the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq as a key factor in a sharp decline in violence over the past year.

The head of the group in Siniyah, Jassim al-Garrout, was killed after he rushed to the site of an ambush against U.S. forces in the area, which lies between the northern oil-hub of Beiji and Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, according to witnesses and police.

One of al-Garrout’s comrades said the group would demand an apology from the Americans.

“The awakening councils have become targets of al-Qaida, the government and sometimes even the U.S. forces. We do not know our fate and we are feeling lost,” Farooq Sami said.

“We are undertaking the task of combating terrorists, yet we are left sometimes unpaid and without money. We have participated in maintaining peace and security in our area, yet we sometimes do not get our salaries.”

The U.S. soldiers were hunting for insurgents and weapons after they were hit by a roadside bomb and small-arms fire near Siniyah, 110 miles northwest of Baghdad, according to an e-mailed military statement.

The troops then came under fire while searching a house and “shot a Sons of Iraq leader who was mistaken for the enemy when he entered the house,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. David Russell, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. Medical aid was administered, the military said, but the troops were unable to save al-Garrout.

Russell said the U.S. soldiers had warned their Sunni allies to identify themselves and to stay clear of the house, and the shooting was being investigated.

“It is regrettable when incidents of mistaken fire occur on the battlefield,” he said.

The U.S.-funded Sunni movement has faced several friendly fire incidents, raising concerns about the difficulty of distinguishing enemy from foe after former insurgents turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.

The groups also face suspicions by the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government, which fears their decision to break with the insurgency was a short-term tactic to gain U.S. money and support.

Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said Monday that the Iraqi government will begin next week paying the salaries of about 54,000 of the mostly Sunni fighters in the province surrounding Baghdad.

In other violence Tuesday, two bombs struck different areas in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least one civilian and wounding seven others, Iraqi officials said.

In political developments, Iraqi lawmakers failed again to hold a vote on legislation needed to schedule provincial elections.

Deputy parliamentary speaker Khalid al-Attiyah warned that failure to pass the law by Thursday could push the crucial vote well into next year and “hinder the process of democracy.”

U.S. officials have pressed hard for the vote to be held as they hope to ease Sunni concerns by giving them a more equitable share of political power this year.

But the parliament has been bogged down in a complex fight between Arabs and Kurds over the new election law needed to hold the vote.

U.N. officials also have said the deadlock is making it increasingly difficult to make the necessary preparations to hold the vote this year.

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Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.