BAGHDAD, 11 January 2004 — British troops and Iraqi police fired into a crowd of armed, stone-throwing protesters in the southern city of Ammara yesterday, killing six people and wounding 11.
A British military spokeswoman said shots were heard coming from among hundreds of protesters who had gathered in front of the office of the US-led coalition to demand jobs, and that Iraqi police, thinking they were under attack, opened fire. At the same time there were “reports of small explosions in the crowd,” said the spokeswoman, speaking on condition of customary anonymity.
British soldiers moved in with armored vehicles to support the police, and assailants in the crowd lobbed three explosive devices at them, believed to be hand grenades, she said. The soldiers saw a man lobbing one of the devices and shot him, apparently killing him. The shooting appeared to sober the crowd, which then dispersed, the spokeswoman said.
But some assailants returned in the afternoon and threw two explosive devices at the armored cars. Soldiers shot the man, and believe they wounded him. “A further three devices were thrown at soldiers before calm returned,” the spokeswoman said.
She said they had reports of five deaths and one person injured. The protesters were demanding that coalition authorities keep a promise to give unemployed people jobs by the beginning of January.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has asked to visit Saddam Hussein as allowed under the Geneva Convention, said yesterday it considered the prisoner of war status legally acceptable. Nada Dumani, Iraq’s ICRC spokeswoman, said it was now essential for Saddam to be granted rights enshrined in the convention and accorded fair treatment.
In the tense northern city of Kirkuk, two Iraqi policemen were killed by mistaken coalition gunfire late Friday, the US military confirmed. US spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle said yesterday the policemen were shot after failing to identify themselves as they were being pursued by US troops after a shooting incident.
