US soldiers accidentally kill Sunni leader in Iraq

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US soldiers accidentally shot and killed the leader of a local US-allied Sunni group Tuesday after coming under attack in a volatile area north of Baghdad, the military said. The latest friendly fire incident came as tensions have been rising among the groups known as the Sons of Iraq, or awakening councils. The military has credited the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq as a key factor in a sharp decline in violence over the past year. The head of the group in Siniyah, Jassim al-Garrout, was killed after he rushed to the site of an ambush against US forces in the area, which lies between the northern oil-hub of Beiji and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, according to witnesses and police.