GI Kills Five Fellow Soldiers on Baghdad Base

Officials Shocked by Shooting at Counseling Center

According to the Pentagon, a US soldier today opened fire on his fellow GIs at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq, killing five of them and wounding two others. The soldier in question is reportedly in custody over the incident.

The shooting is said to have occurred at a counseling center on the base, where soldiers receive help for combat-related stress. No other details were readily available about the incident, which ties a bombing last month in Mosul for the most US soldiers killed in a single incident in 2009.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates both expressed “shock” at the shootings, and Gates said they were still investigating the incident.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.