THIS ISN'T GOOD. And in some ways demonstrates how the US Army finds itself at a disadvantage in these types of situations.

You may recall back during the war our artillery was all over the place. And during the war the Field Artillery guys had some very nifty radar devices that connect to the Artillery systems in order to perform what is known as counter-battery fire. This radar detects mortar fire (among other things), triangulates the position of the offending mortar, then our artillery tubes rain down upon the poor slobs in a matter of moments.

But it is a whole lot more difficult to make that work when you no longer have a sense of a line dividing our side from theirs. And in the peacekeeping mode, well, we just are sorta plopped in there amongst them.

A mortar shell has hit a coalition office in a town north of Baghdad, killing one Iraqi and injuring 12 others.

The US military said the 82mm mortar round crashed onto the Civil Military Operations centre in Samarra, an office that co-ordinates military and civilian humanitarian aid.

American soldiers said they heard three explosions. Local police arrived at the scene and found the dead and wounded.

"Soldiers were unable to respond or find the perpetrators," US Central Command said in a statement.

Read it here.