BAGHDAD – A rocket landing in Baghdad's Green Zone Friday night killed an American civilian working for the Department of Defense near the U.S. Embassy, a U.S. military spokesman confirmed.
The death comes as the Iraqi government has begun tearing down blast walls surrounding the Green Zone, which houses a number of Iraqi government ministries as well as the American Embassy.
Iraq assumed control of the Green Zone under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact that took effect Jan. 1.
Since the Green Zone was established shortly after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, it has been repeatedly shelled or attacked by suicide and car bombers.
In 2005, Ronald Schulz of Anchorage, Alaska, was believed to have been kidnapped from the Green Zone where he was working as an electrician. His body and that of a woman believed to be his Iraqi fiancee were found by the U.S. military in a grave in September 2008.
The Islamic Army in Iraq claimed in December 2005 that it had killed the pair.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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