By SPA,
Baghdad, Iraq : An Iraqi city council member opened fire on U.S. forces outside Baghdad on Monday, killing two soldiers, U.S. officials said.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed in a small arms fire attack near Salman Pak early Monday afternoon, the U.S. military said in a statement. Three others soldiers and an interpreter were wounded, the statement said, which added that soldiers killed the gunman.
The attack happened as the soldiers were leaving the Salman Pak Nahia Council building, the military said.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said the incident happened after U.S. soldiers and local officials had attended a ceremony to open a park in al-Madaen, also known as Salman Pak.
After the soldiers entered Al-Madaen’s city council building, a city council member opened fire on the soldiers with an AK-47, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
The U.S. forces returned fire, killing the city council member, according to two Interior Ministry officials.
“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, according to The Associated Press.
Al-Madaen is located about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Baghdad’s city center.