Baghdad, 18 June 2003 (RFE/RL) -- U.S. troops today shot and killed two Iraqi demonstrators outside the presidential compound in Baghdad, the headquarters of the U.S.-led administration. U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Douglas said the two men died of their wounds.
Reports say the demonstrators -- numbering several hundred -- were former members of the Iraqi Army who were upset about losing their jobs and said they are owed back pay.
A U.S. Army spokesman, Captain Scott Nauman, told CNN that some protesters threw rocks at U.S. soldiers guarding the presidential compound, and then pelted a passing convoy of U.S. Army vehicles with rocks and broke some windows.
Nauman said soldiers at the compound fired warning shots into the air and, a short time later, the soldiers in the convoy fired into the crowd.
Reports say the demonstrators -- numbering several hundred -- were former members of the Iraqi Army who were upset about losing their jobs and said they are owed back pay.
A U.S. Army spokesman, Captain Scott Nauman, told CNN that some protesters threw rocks at U.S. soldiers guarding the presidential compound, and then pelted a passing convoy of U.S. Army vehicles with rocks and broke some windows.
Nauman said soldiers at the compound fired warning shots into the air and, a short time later, the soldiers in the convoy fired into the crowd.