GUNMAN IN IRAQ KILLS 2 U.S. SOLDIERS, WOUNDS 4

BAGHDAD - A disgruntled local official opened fire Monday on U.S. soldiers attending a municipal council meeting southeast of Baghdad, killing two of them and wounding four other Americans, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

Gunman in Iraq kills 2 American soldiers, wounds 4
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 23, 4:18 PM ET
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The assailant died in a hail of gunfire after the attack, which occurred in the town of Madain, also known as Salman Pak, about 15 miles south of Baghdad in an area with a history of Sunni-Shiite tension.

U.S. officials confirmed two American soldiers died and that four Americans, including a civilian interpreter, were wounded.

Iraqi police and witnesses said the attack took place in front of the Madain municipal building where the Americans had come to confer with local authorities.

U.S. officials said the Americans were leaving the building when the assailant opened fire about 1 p.m. However, the U.S. officials released no further details except that the assailant was killed.
"The attacker came out of his car with an AK-47 rifle in his hand and started firing on the American soldiers until he was killed by the return fire," said Hussein al-Dulaimi, 37, who owns an agricultural machine shop across the street.

Al-Dulaimi, other residents and a police official said the attacker had been a Sunni member of the municipal council until he was ousted by Shiites during sectarian violence following the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad.

But the Interior Ministry said the gunman was still an active council member.
The motive for the attack was unclear, and ministry officials were investigating whether the gunman had ties to Sunni insurgents.

The Madain area was a center of Saddam Hussein's biological and chemical weapons program. It also includes the tomb of Salman al-Farsi, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad.
The tomb has been the source of sectarian tension in recent years, with both Sunni and Shiite religious organizations competing for control of the shrine, which used to draw pilgrims from across the Muslim world.

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