Iraqi police open fire on jobless protesters

IRAQI police opened fire in downtown Baghdad yesterday after demonstrators demanding jobs stormed a police station and threw stones at officers, police said. At least one demonstrator was injured in the shooting.

In the northern city of Mosul, police also fired warning shots in the air to disperse hundreds of unemployed Iraqis who marched to an employment office and the city hall to demand jobs. There were no reports of injuries in the protests in Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb exploded yesterday afternoon as a US convoy was driving by in Saddam Hussein’s hometown Tikrit. Three soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were wounded, US officials said.