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Us forces shot into crowd Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_47629.asphttp://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_47629.asp
07:06 AEST Wed 16 Apr 2003
US forces deny Mosul shootings
AFP - US forces denied being to blame after at least 10 people were reported shot dead and scores wounded in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.
Witnesses said US troops fired on a crowd.
A US military spokesman in Mosul said troops had come under fire from at least two gunmen and fired back, but without aiming at the crowd protesting against a pro-US speech by the newly-installed local governor.
At the US Central Command's war headquarters in Qatar, Navy Commander Charles Owens said: "We're investigating, all we can say now is that we did not shoot into a crowd."
Ayad al-Ramadhani, a doctor at the city hospital said "there are perhaps 100 wounded and 10 to 12 dead" following the shooting near the local government offices in a central square.
Three witnesses questioned by AFP and Iraqis treated by medics said US troops had fired on the crowd, which had grown increasingly hostile towards governor Mashaan al-Juburi as he spoke.
A wrecked car sat in the square and ambulances ferried wounded to hospitals, while US aircraft made repeated low-altitude passes over the northern city.
Reporters were denied access to the hospital trauma centre by angry medical personnel and relatives of the wounded.
The military spokesman in Mosul described the shooting, saying: "There were protesters outside (the government offices), 100 to 150. There was fire. We returned fire."
He said the gunfire came from a roof opposite the building, about 75 metres away.
"We didn't fire at the crowd, but at the top of the building," the spokesman stressed.
"There were at least two gunmen. I don't know if they were killed. The firing was not intensive but sporadic, and lasted up to two minutes."
A man who said he had witnessed the shooting told a different story.
"We were at the market place near the government building, where Juburi was making a speech," said Marwan Mohammed, 50. "He said everything would be restored, water, electricity, and that democracy was the Americans.
"The Americans were turning around the crowd.
"The people moved toward the government building, the children threw stones, the Americans started firing. Then they prevented the people from recovering the bodies," he told AFP.
At the hospital, where furious relatives of the dead and wounded cried hatred of Americans and Westerners, a doctor gave a similar account from patients.
"Juburi said the people must cooperate with the United States. The crowd called him a liar, and tempers rose as he continued to talk. They threw objects at him, overturned his car which exploded," said Said Altah.
"The wounded said Juburi asked the Americans to fire," he added.
Ayad Hassun, 37, another witness, said trouble broke out after the crowd interrupted Juburi's speech, crying: "There is no God but God and Mohammed is his prophet".
İAAP 2003
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