BAGHDAD, 22 November 2005 — Five Iraqi civilians were shot dead by US forces at a roadblock northeast of Baghdad yesterday as political leaders agreed to call for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
Five family members, including three children, were killed outside a military base near Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, as they returned from a funeral.
“The soldiers started shooting at us from all over,” said Ahmed Kamel Al-Sawamra, a 22-year-old student who was driving the car and who escaped injury. “I slowed down and pulled off the road, but they continued firing.” The incident came as the leaders of Iraq’s political factions concluded talks in Cairo and called for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces.
The three-day meeting’s final statement also called for “immediately setting up a national program to rebuild the armed forces in a way that will allow them to control the security situation and put an end to terrorist operations.”
The meeting, sponsored by the Arab League, featured tough talks but ultimately resulted in an agreement to hold a reconciliation conference at the end of February.
US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said next year would probably see some US troop reductions.
It is “possible to begin adjusting our forces downward, meaning begin to withdraw, some forces beginning next year,” he told CNN television.
Two men and three children, aged one, two and three, were killed and two women and a child were wounded in the shooting incident, which occurred when the car approached a roadblock, Iraqi police said. US forces said only three died.
US military spokesman Maj. Steven Warren said that while they were checking that the necessary rules of engagement were followed, ultimately top insurgent Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was responsible for those deaths.
“Zarqawi is the reason they got shot, if it wasn’t for VBED’s plowing into convoys, no one would be shooting at cars,” he said, using the military’s acronym for car bombs.
Insurgents have repeatedly rammed US convoys with car bombs, making US forces very wary of approaching cars.
Over the weekend, some reports suggested Zarqawi might have been killed by US forces in an operation Saturday in Mosul.
US officials yesterday denied this was the case, but said it was only a matter of time before they got him.
