Concerned citizen’s shots precede firefight

[unhappycamper]

Concerned citizen’s shots precede firefight
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, December 6, 2007

JURF AS SAHKIR, Iraq — An Iraqi man was seriously injured after a “concerned citizen” and others fired at U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint Tuesday night.

Nine 3rd Infantry Division soldiers, an Iraqi policeman and an interpreter arrived at about 10 p.m. on a routine patrol about two miles from Patrol Base Jurf when the concerned citizen fired a shot at them, soldiers said Wednesday morning.

Concerned citizens are paid by U.S. forces to man checkpoints, patrol neighborhoods and keep them free of insurgents — although some were once insurgents themselves. The program is credited by many U.S. commanders for quelling violence at towns throughout Iraq.

The concerned citizen apologized to the soldiers from Company A, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry, 4th Brigade. But two minutes later, AK-47 fire erupted from nearby houses and a farther away palm grove.

The checkpoint stood in front of the soldiers and barbed wire blocked their right side. They had a fence and a four-foot embankment on their left.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50759