U.S. military kills 7 in Iraqi force in ‘friendly fire’ incident

BAGHDAD – A U.S. military unit on a riverboat patrol shot dead seven Iraqi security personnel early today after an Iraqi checkpoint failed to recognize the men and opened fire on them, according to Iraqi police and army officers.

The shootout in Tarmiya, 37 miles north of Baghdad, claimed the lives of three Iraqi soldiers, two policemen, and two U.S.-backed Sunni paramilitary fighters, the officers said. At least two others went missing, while one Iraqi soldier was wounded. The U.S. military called the deaths regrettable.

The episode comes at a sensitive time. A U.S. demand that its soldiers have immunity from Iraqi courts has proven an obstacle to reaching agreement on an American-Iraqi security agreement that would allow U.S. troops to stay in Iraq after this year.

The Iraqis are proposing the Americans retain immunity on their bases and on combat missions authorized by the Iraqi government. But they would be brought before an Iraqi court in other circumstances, according to Iraqi officials. “Iraq cannot be expected to undervalue the lives of the Iraqis to give immunity to American soldiers working here in Iraq,” Sheik Jalaluddin Saghir, a senior Shiite Muslim lawmaker, told The Times in an interview last weekend.

Early this morning, U.S. military boats were patrolling the Tigris River with their lights off when Iraqi soldiers on a bridge heard noises and opened fire, the Iraqi officers said. The Americans then shot back, they said.

Tarmiya was already on edge after a teenage suicide bomber attacked the head of the local U.S.-backed Sunni paramilitary group on Monday, killing one person and wounding eight others.

In the last year, U.S. forces have mistaken Sunni paramilitary fighters for militants and called in airstrikes on several occasions. Aware of the problem, at one location, south of Baghdad, U.S. forces have spray-painted a Sunni paramilitary checkpoint with the words “Don’t shoot Sons of Iraq.”

 ned.parker@latimes.com