Hans Rustad En irakisk hærenhet bestående av kurdisk peshmerga, kom i kamp med en annen irakisk hærenhet i Balad, nord for Bagdad, og en soldat ble drept, opplyser amerikanerne.
Irakiske myndigheter nekter kjennskap til en slik episode.
Of the quarter-million Iraqis now in the forces, including army and police, some were recruited from armed groups linked to parties in the Shi’ite- and Kurdish-led interim government.
U.S. and Iraqi commanders highlight recent recruitment from Sunni Arab areas where insurgents have been strong and say they are trying to ensure a sectarian and ethnic mix in the army. But some units remain dominated by particular groups.
One of these, dominated by Kurds with ties to «peshmerga» guerrillas who fought Saddam Hussein, was involved in fighting in Balad, a mainly Shi’ite Arab area, on Friday, police said.
By the U.S. account, this unit was attacked by insurgents in the small town of Dhuluiya on Friday, losing one dead and 12 wounded. Some of those injured were taken to hospital in Balad, about 10 miles away. But when comrades tried to remove the wounded again, a second Iraqi army unit barred their way.
«The confrontation between the two Iraqi units resulted in the death of one soldier from the» unit which set the blockade, the U.S. military said in a statement, adding that a company — typically over 100 men — of the U.S. army arrived «to separate the Iraqi soldiers and ease tensions.»
The U.S. military offered no explanation for the Iraqi troops’ actions. Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said it was an isolated incident: «Passions can run very high when you have injured comrades,» he said.
