Several legislators and others have taken a drive-through aboard Army Humvees, so many that military officers tell of worries that insurgents will attack a convoy.
But neighborhood residents reported far higher fatalities and said local gunmen had destroyed five Iraqi Army Humvees.
But, he added, his neighborhood had done some damage to the Iraqi Army, using homemade bombs to burn five Iraqi Army Humvees.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said two Army Humvees had been parked near the checkpoint, but apparently not on the road itself.
He and his assistants had to move quickly to transfer $300,000 in dollars and dinars to a van outside, guarded by two Army Humvees whose engines were running.
The reason for the rush quickly became apparent: Four heavily armed Army Humvees and a small contingent of soldiers on foot had arrived at the entrance.
In Mosul on Sunday, one American soldier was killed and another was wounded when a roadside bomb blew up under an Army Humvee, the military said.
An Iraqi Army Humvee led the way up the hillside.
An Iraqi Army Humvee, its Iraqi banner rent to shreds, was burning furiously on the hill to the left.
Afterwards gunmen attacked the convoy and one Iraqi Army Humvee was torched.