US Troops Kill 11 Iraqis as Pro-Saddam Demonstrations Held in Iraqi Cities

16/12/2003| IslamWeb

American occupation soldiers shot dead 11 Iraqis, who tried to ambush their force in a town north of Baghdad Monday, the U.S. military said Tuesday. The American announcement added U.S. forces suffered no casualties in the incident in the town of Samarra, some 100 kilometers north of the capital. On November 30th, US Army officers reported a massive firefight between their forces and Iraqi resistance fighters in Samarra. US media reports said occupation forces killed 54 Iraqis. However, locals provided a different version. According to them, American troops were guarding a delivery of money to the bank in Samarra, gunfire was heard in the distance and the Americans opened fire, riddling the city center with bullets, killing 8 civilians, including two Iranians, and wounding 50 in the process. Elsewhere, in Tikrit, a roadside bomb on Tuesday injured three US soldiers on Tuesday. Two were said to have sustained serious injuries. Also on Tuesday, pro-Saddam demonstrations have been held in several Iraqi towns. In the northern city of Mosul, occupation soldiers fired warning shots to disperse hundreds of demonstrators marching through the center of town, waving old banknotes with Saddam Hussein's image. Helicopters flew over the crowd and several armored vehicles were deployed nearby. An American military statement said that soldiers in the town of Ramadi west of Baghdad killed three protesters and wounded two more on Monday, after up to 750 people rallied in a show of support for Saddam. The statement said that U.S. troops were fired upon repeatedly and that one soldier was wounded. In Fallujah, crowds chanting "We defend Saddam with our souls," overran the mayor's office Monday after Iraqi police withdrew from the streets, the military said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Several hundred armed demonstrators take to the streets of Fallujah, chanting pro-Saddam slogans. (AFP/Abdelqader Saadi)