First Infantry Division soldiers investigating the site of frequent mortar and rocket attacks shot and killed an armed man near Samarra, Iraq, early Tuesday, according to the division’s daily briefing report.

The soldiers were investigating about 1:15 a.m. when they came upon a man they determined “posed a threat to the patrol,” the report said.

After shooting him, they discovered he had been armed with an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle and four magazines, which were confiscated and transferred to a Coalition Provisional Authority base for destruction.

The report did not identify the unit to which the soldiers belonged. Samarra, about 60 miles northwest of Baghdad, is the headquarters of Task Force 1-26, part of the division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team from Schweinfurt, Germany.

Checkpoint runner shot

An Iraqi man was shot and killed by U.S. troops Monday evening when he tried to run his car through a Coalition Provisional Authority checkpoint near Baqoubah, Iraq, according to the 1st Infantry Division’s daily briefing report.

The car approached the checkpoint at 8:22 p.m. but would not stop when signaled to by the soldiers, the report said. The soldiers fired on the car, trying to disable it, and killed the driver.

The man’s remains were handed over to Iraqi police. The incident is being investigated, according to the report.

First Lt. Wayne Adkins, a 1st ID spokesman, declined to identify the unit of the soldiers involved in the shooting. The division’s 3rd Brigade Combat team, based in Vilseck, Germany, commands the sector of Iraq northeast of Baghdad.

Fatal attack on ex-mayor

The former mayor of Samarra, Iraq, was killed and an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldier wounded Monday in a confrontation with protesters near the city center.

Iraqi soldiers and police came under fire when they were trying to break up a violent demonstration, according to a briefing report from the 1st Infantry Division. The former mayor, Shakn Mahumed Ahmed Shab, died at the scene.

Lt. Wayne Adkins, a 1st ID spokesman, said soldiers from the division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team evacuated the wounded soldier to a Coalition Provisional Authority hospital near Baghdad. His condition is unknown.

Iraqi police are investigating the killing, Adkins said. Samarra is about 60 miles northwest of Baghdad in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. The area has been a center of resistance to U.S. occupation.

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