US Troops Kill as Many as 7 Civilians in Shootings in Iraq
Iraqi officials say American troops in Baghdad have killed as many as seven Iraqi civilians, including a child, in two
separate shootings.
In one incident, Iraqi security officials say as many as four people were killed Tuesday when U.S. troops opened fire on
a minibus. Officials say the troops shot at the vehicle as it advanced toward a roadblock in Baghdad's northern Shaab
neighborhood.
A U.S. military spokesman says the street is restricted to passenger cars, and the driver failed to heed a warning shot.
In other news, a delegation of Sunni religious leaders met with Iraq's most respected Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf today. A Sunni cleric says Sistani called for unity and an end to
sectarian violence in the country.
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. military said troops opened fire on a car speeding toward a checkpoint in Baiji Monday,
killing two men and a child. A spokesman said the military regrets that civilians are hurt or killed while coalition
forces work to rid Iraq of terrorist networks.
In other violence, Iraqi police say a suicide bomber killed six people and wounded several others after detonating
explosives at the entrance to a police headquarters in the central city of Baquba Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said Warsaw could withdraw all its troops from Iraq by mid-2008.
Klich made the remark in an interview published in the Polish daily newspaper, Rzeczpospolita.
Poland has about 900 soldiers in southern Iraq.
ENDS