TENSIONS over the presence of American troops in Iraq exploded into violence when American forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the town of Fallujah, killing at least 14 and wounding dozens more, it emerged yesterday.

American military officials said that they fired in selfdefence as the crowd marched on their base in a primary school late on Monday, chanting anti-American slogans and firing automatic weapons over the heads of the soldiers.

Residents, however, insisted that the protesters were unarmed and that the only shooting on their side came from residents firing in the air, a common form of demonstration in Iraq.

The bloodshed will further inflame anger at the presence of American troops in Fallujah and other conservative towns where the soldiers are regarded more as occupiers than liberators.

Mohammed Mahid Khalif sat by his injured brother’s hospital bed yesterday. “We don’t want the American forces here in Fallujah,” he said. “If they do not leave, we are ready to risk our lives to get rid of them. We will launch suicide attacks on them.”

The incident was the culmination of three days of tension between the people of the strongly religious town, 30 miles west of Baghdad, and American troops, who arrived on Friday and took over the school as their base.

While US commanders insisted that they had received a warm welcome, infantrymen said that they had been met with widespread hostility and been fired on repeatedly and stoned in the past three days.

The protest on Monday began after evening prayers, when crowds began to march on the school to demand that the Americans leave the building and allow children to resume their studies as scheduled yesterday. US military officials said that they had used armed personnel carriers and loudspeakers to disperse crowds gathering at another military base, but they regrouped around the school and began marching to the gates.

A soldier, who was on the roof of the building at the time but who refused to be identified, said: “The crowd walking down the street was chanting aggressive slogans and firing on the building. When they start marching down the road, shooting at the compound, there is nothing left for us to do but to defend ourselves.”

American snipers positioned on the roof opened fire with what they described as “precise, well-positioned shots.”

Muthana Salah, the owner of a house opposite the school, was hit as he stood by his gate.

“I was shot and my brother, Walid, came to help me and then he was shot dead,” he said, wincing in pain in his hospital bed.

Mr Salah’s brother-in-law, Usama, said that he had been shot as he tried to back a car out of the garage to help the family to escape.

“Then I was shouting to my wife to come and help me and she came out and was shot in the leg,” he said.

The family fled with the help of neighbours, who broke down the fence at the back of the house to let out a car carrying the wounded.

They drove to the Fallujah hospital, where 13 dead and 75 wounded were admitted, according to the hospital director. Two dozen more injured and one dead were taken to the Jordanian hospital. Three boys under the age of ten were reported to be dead.

Security was tight yesterday as US tanks rumbled through the streets and helicopters buzzed overhead for signs of disturbance. Mourners gathered in the cemetery to bury the dead. “Our soul and our blood we will sacrifice to you martyrs,” they chanted over the graves, all but drowned out by the noise of the helicopters.

No American soldiers were killed or injured. Senior military commanders defended the actions as self-defence.

Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Nantz said: “There was fire directly over the heads of soldiers on the roof. They returned fire in order to protect the lives of our soldiers.

“Multiple times earlier that day we used speaker-phones to request that they not fire weapons in the vicinity of American forces as that could be viewed as a hostile act.”

He agreed, however, that “cultural differences” could have contributed to the tensions and promised that US forces would soon vacate the school.

Hostile crowds were still gathering outside the compound, shouting anti-American slogans and calling for the troops to leave.

Ibrahim Faisel, a student, said: “They said they came here to get rid of Saddam. But Saddam has left, so why are they still here? “It is not a matter that we want Saddam back, it is a question of Islam against the crusaders. Fallujah is the city of mosques. The Americans must leave.”

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