[News] US soldiers kill Iraqi demonstrators

[News at freedomarchives.org]

US soldiers kill Iraqi demonstrators

Tuesday 13 January 2004 10:14 AM GMT


At least three Iraqi protesters have been shot dead after US occupation 
soldiers opened fire on a demonstration in the restive town of Falluja.

Medical sources at the town's hospital, west of Baghdad, said five others 
were seriously wounded on Tuesday, reported our correspondent.

The demonstrators were protesting against US conduct, including increased 
civilian arrests. Demonstrators are particularly angered by the detention 
of women, who were accused by soldiers of carrying out resistance attacks 
against them.

The protest was organised by local clerics. Protesters chanted slogans 
condemning US forces and demanded detainees should be freed, reported our 
correspondent.

But Reuters reported that four civilians were killed, including an elderly 
woman, when US soldiers opened fire for coming under rocket attack.

More protestors injured

Also on Tuesday, seven Iraqis were wounded when US-led occupation soldiers 
clashed with a crowd of jobless protesters in the southern city of Kut.

"Seven wounded were admitted to the emergency room - five protestors and 
two female bystanders," said Dr Taha Ali Abdel
Husayn. Six people suffered bullet wounds, including one woman.

About 100 protesters threw grenades towards Ukrainian soldiers stationed 
around city hall offices. In return, the soldiers fired warning shots to 
disperse the mob, said an AFP correspondent.

Civilians killed

In the capital, US soldiers opened fire at a car, killing the driver and a 
10-year-old boy, moments after an Army vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, 
said relatives.

"The Americans have ruined an innocent family, children and women"

Iraqi relative of civilians killed

One soldier was killed in the Monday bombing, the US military said. The 
shooting is the latest in a growing number of cases of civilians being shot 
by US soldiers, as they near the end of their tour ahead of the first 
troops rotation next month.

A US military official said the shooting "has not been confirmed" and the 
Army was investigating.

Monday's shooting in Baghdad occurred on Palestine Street, near the Oil 
Ministry when the car passed two Humvees on a patrol, said Wijdan Abd 
al-Wahhab, whose two sisters, two nephews and a niece were in the car.

As the vehicle passed the convoy, one of the Humvees was hit by the 
roadside bomb and the other Humvee opened indiscriminate fire, Abd 
al-Wahhab told The Associated Press.

She said her nephew Mustafa Jamal Shaikhly, 10, and the family driver, 
identified only as Haidar, were killed in the firing. Mustafa's mother, 
Istabraq, 30, and aunt Hiyam, 40, were seriously injured.

"The Americans have ruined an innocent family, children and women," a 
distraught and weeping Wijdan said at the hospital. "They did not even 
bother to look back at them after shooting them," she said.

Helicopter downed

In related news, a US Apache helicopter crashed west of Baghdad, but both 
crew members have survived.

The helicopter, which usually carries a crew of two, crashed  near the town 
of Habbaniya, about 80km west of the capital, said a US military spokesman.

It was probably shot down by resistance fighters, the third such attack in 
two weeks.

"There is an initial report of enemy fire," said a military spokesman.

The spokesman said both crew members were alive, but he did not know if 
they were injured.

On 9 January, nine US soldiers were killed when their Blackhawk helicopter 
was shot down in Falluja.

In November, 17 US soldiers were killed when two Black Hawks collided near 
the northern city of Mosul after they came under attack.

Aljazeera + Agencies


You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6DC4A971-2202-4652-8615-9C27A1FE86F2.htm 



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