US Soldier Kills 5 Fellow Soldiers in Iraq, Injures 3 Others

by Teh Nutroots | Here's tragedy:

The killings appeared to be the worst case of lethal non-combat casualties for the American forces in Iraq since the invasion more than six years ago.

The shooting took place at around 2 p.m. local time at Camp Liberty, a sprawling base next to Baghdad airport, the military said in a statement. The names of the dead soldiers were being withheld pending family notification, the statement said….CNN, citing unnamed officials, said that at least three others were wounded in the attack, which it said had taken place at a clinic for soldiers suffering from war stress….

The death toll from the Monday shooting was the highest for American personnel in a single attack since April 10, when a suicide truck driver killed five American soldiers with a blast near a police headquarters in  Mosul, News agencies reported.  [New York Times]

CNN confirms that three others were wounded in the attack.

MSNBC reports:

Such an attack -- on officers and sergeants -- is known as fraggings and was not uncommon during the Vietnam war as morale in the ranks sank. However, such attacks are believed to be rare in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 But The Raw Story says:

Attacks by US soldiers on their colleagues are not uncommon in Iraq, and the last such report was on September 14 when sergeant Joseph Bozicevich shot dead two of his superiors at a base south of Baghdad.

Bozicevich, 39, killed staff sergeant Darris Dawson 24, and sergeant Wesley Durbin 26, because he could not bear being berated by them, according to reports. (emphasis added)

CNN says this is the fifth incident of an American soldier killing comrades..

It seems possible that the shooter was a soldier receiving treatment at a clinic for stress.  [The Raw Story]

If so, that at least would provide some sort of way to understand this tragedy.  At The Moderate Voice, Patrick Edaburn says:

This is an increasing problem as troops are sent back to Iraq over and over again the stress levels begin to rise. Above and beyond the issues involved in being in combat you now have the stress placed on the families and the worries over that.

CNN says it's still unclear what, if any, connection the soldier had to the stress clinic.

More at Memeorandum.

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