BAGHDAD — The target was in the house. U.S. forces made their move. But as they neared the building in a lush farming area south of Baghdad, gunmen emerged from the dark.
When the shooting ended, two U.S.-allied civilian security guards were dead, along with a companion apparently linked to the security force.
The U.S. Army said Sunday it appeared that the Iraqi men had left their assigned checkpoint in the village of Jarf Sakhr and were mistaken for insurgents.
But it was the second case in a week of U.S. forces killing civilian fighters in the area, and the third such incident this month in Iraq, where the security force's cooperation with American and Iraqi troops is considered key to maintaining recent security gains.
Since the latest shooting, some of the guards, who are known as Sons of Iraq, have abandoned their checkpoints to protest what they consider careless U.S. behavior. The U.S. military pays the security volunteers, formerly known as concerned local citizens or Awakening Councils, about $10 a day to maintain security in their neighborhoods.
Col. Tom James of the U.S. Army's 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division said the Friday shooting could have been avoided had the civilian fighters followed rules outlined in contracts they sign with the military. Those rules include remaining at checkpoints and not taking offensive action, which could cause soldiers to mistake them for insurgents, he said.
"We're very strict in our approach to the Sons of Iraq, what they can and cannot do, how they have to be in their positions and be static," he said. "A situation like this occurs because they are not following those particular rules."
But his description of the event Friday also underscored the difficulty of conducting missions in volatile regions with a mix of uniformed and non-uniformed forces that operate in close proximity but do not communicate with one another.
Sons of Iraq members are not in direct contact with American forces and are not told beforehand of planned operations. That means if they see figures moving in the distance in the night, they have no way to know whether they are friend or foe until they get close to their checkpoints.
With attacks on their checkpoints increasing dramatically since Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden condemned the Iraqi volunteers in a December statement, leaders say they have reason to be edgy.
