Two killed as US troops open fire on Baghdad protest

Two Iraqi protesters were killed today when US troops opened fire during a demonstration outside the presidential compound in Baghdad.

The violence started when an American military vehicle tried to move slowly through the demonstrators, witnesses said. Some of the protesters banged on it and a US soldier fired in the air, sparking panic in the crowd.

The protesters then began throwing rocks at the soldiers guarding Saddam Hussein’s former Republican Palace, which is now the headquarters of the US-led administration.

“A soldier did fire his weapon,” in response to the stoning, said US spokesman Capt John Morgan.

Two wounded men were taken to a medical facility inside the complex, but later died, a US official said.

Raad Mohammed, a former army officer who joined the protest for back wages, said his friend was shot in the shoulder. Mohammed’s shirt was stained with blood.

He said he and others were about to put the wounded man in a car when American troops approached and said, “We will take care of him,” and took him into the compound.

There have been frequent demonstrations outside the Republican Palace since coalition forces captured the Iraqi capital in April, usually over the issue of unpaid wages for civil servants and the army.

Today’s protest coincided with the birthday of Saddam’s eldest son Uday.

It was staged as US troops intensified their searches in the capital for illegal weapons and supporters of Saddam’s regime.

Before dawn today, troops sealed off several streets in the Karrada neighbourhood, and called residents from their beds as they searched their homes. One man was taken away with his hands bound behind his back.

The military says about 400 people have been arrested since the latest operation – Desert Scorpion – began on Sunday.

The searches have sparked widespread resentment, despite what the military says are efforts to show sensitivity without endangering the soldiers.

:: Meanwhile, a human rights group said US soldiers used excessive force when they shot dead 20 protesters and wounded almost 90 others in Fallujah.

Human Rights Watch called for an official investigation into the two shootings that took place in April.

It said it found no concrete evidence to support US assertions that troops carefully returned fire at gunmen in the crowd who shot at them first.

Buildings facing the US positions were marked with more than 100 bullet holes, it said. The damage was “wider and more sustained than would have been caused by ‘precision fire.”’

Since then, Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, has become synonymous with resistance to the US-led occupation. Subsequent ambushes there have killed four US soldiers and wounded 21.