BAGHDAD (AFP) â€" A US soldier is being held after allegedly shooting dead two American comrades and wounding another after an argument, the military said on Tuesday.
Specialist Neftaly Platero is in "pre-trial confinement" over the September 23 killing of the soldiers, a statement said, without mentioning where the shooting occurred or providing further details.
"There was a verbal altercation that broke out between four soldiers, after which the suspect allegedly took out his weapon and began shooting the soldiers," said Colonel Barry Johnson, a press officer.
"All of this is under investigation."
Brigadier General Jeffrey Buchanan, the spokesman for US forces in Iraq, added: "Our condolences go out to the families of those service members whose lives were lost. We are saddened by this tragic incident."
The deaths brought to 4,424 the number of US soldiers who have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion which ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org.
Washington declared an official end to combat operations in Iraq on September 1 but it still has nearly 50,000 soldiers deployed in the country for joint counter-terror operations and training of Iraqi security personnel.
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