BAGHDAD, 14 January 2004 — A US Apache attack helicopter was shot down yesterday because of hostile fire — the third aircraft lost this month in the volatile region west of Baghdad. Coalition troops killed three Iraqis in restive cities outside the capital, relatives and police said.
In Fallujah, also west of the capital, hundreds of Iraqis protested in the streets, shouting “Bush, you coward!” after US troops detained a young woman while searching for a Saddam Hussein loyalist. The woman, who relatives acknowledged was handled only by female soldiers, was released after several hours questioning.
Ukrainian troops opened fire yesterday to disperse a crowd of several hundred protesters in the southeastern city of Kut demanding jobs. One man was killed and two other people, including a woman, were wounded in the second straight day of violent protests in the mainly Shiite city.
The AH-64 helicopter gunship from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment crashed near the town of Habbaniyah, but the two crew members escaped injury, military spokesman Col. William Darley said.
“It was apparently downed by enemy fire,” he added.
Following the demonstration in Fallujah, gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at US troops guarding the city hall. The soldiers returned fire, killing two people and injuring four, witnesses, police and hospital staff said. The dead included a 33-year-old woman shot inside the home of her sister, and a 37-year-old motorist whose car crashed in a hail of gunfire. The driver’s brother and father were seriously injured, police Capt. Taha Al-Falahi said.
“Our rights are gone and lost. See how beautiful democracy is. They take the women away. They kill the youth. We are living in luxury,” said Khalil Ibrahim at the hospital.
In Baghdad, US troops fired at a car Monday following a roadside bombing in which an American soldier was killed. The driver and a 10-year-old boy were killed, the boy’s relative said.
“The Americans have ruined an innocent family, children and women,” said Wijdan Abdel Wahab, the boy’s aunt. “They didn’t even bother to look back at them after shooting them.” She said the family is fed up with the situation and wants to “leave Iraq because of the Americans and the (US-installed) Governing Council.”
Officials of the 1st Armored Division, in charge of security in Baghdad, said they were looking into the Monday shooting but said they were unable to confirm any of the details.
The report emerged as the US military is investigating another apparent shooting of civilians by Americans — four Iraqis, including a 7-year-old boy, killed in a taxi near Tikrit on Jan. 3. A battalion commander in Tikrit, Lt. Col. Steve Russell, said yesterday it was “likely” the victims were killed by coalition forces.
Unrest among the Shiites has grown as their spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Husseini Al-Sistani, has spoken out against a US-backed formula for transferring power to the Iraqis.
But the top US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said Monday the Nov. 15 pact is “the best way forward to return sovereignty to the Iraqi people.”
— Additional input from agencies
