BAGHDAD — An American was found dead in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, the U.S. military said Saturday, the apparent victim of an unprecedented slaying.
Another American, believed to be a civilian contractor, was killed Friday night when a rocket struck the Green Zone near the U.S. Embassy, the military said.
Those deaths have raised concerns about security before the June 30 deadline for all U.S. combat troops to pull out of Baghdad and other cities. At least 66 people were killed nationwide in a two-day string of bombings this week.
Iraq assumed control of the Green Zone zone on Jan. 1 under a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, taking primary responsibility from the Americans for searching vehicles and checking identity papers as entry checkpoints.
The Iraqis have begun removing some of the protective blast falls around the Green Zone — part of a campaign to restore a sense of normalcy.
The U.S. military gave few details of the slaying, saying only that an American was found dead Friday in his car. The victim was identified by his brother as Jim Kitterman, 60, of Houston, Texas, who runs a small construction company based in the Green Zone and had worked in Iraq for about six years.
Although Americans and others have been killed in rocket or mortar attacks in the Green Zone, Kitterman was believed to be the first American assassinated there since the protected area was established in April 2003.
by the associated press
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