US troops open fire on Iraqi cops: 2 dead

The mother and brother of Iraqi Kurdish policeman Ardi Ali, 23, mourn during Ali's funeral in the northern city of Kirkuk, 255km north of Baghdad yesterday. Ali and Ibrahim Hadi, both policemen, were killed by US gunfire in Kirkuk on Friday in a case of mistaken identity, said the police chief of the northern oil city. "US forces have admitted killing two Iraqi policemen by mistake and said that they have opened an investigation," said General Turhan Yussef. PHOTO: AFP

Major Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit, said the policemen were shot after failing to identify themselves when they were being pursued by troops of the US 173rd Airborne Brigade after a shooting incident.

"Two Iraqi police officers were killed yesterday after they failed to identify themselves to a coalition patrol," she said.

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Aberle said the men were witnessed firing their weapons at a building and fled when US soldiers arrived at the scene. The soldiers gave chase, firing warning shots and calling for the policemen to halt.

"The men refused to comply. The soldiers took a defensive position and fired on the men, killing one, wounding another and capturing a third. The wounded man was treated immediately but died en route to hospital," Aberle said.

Police in Kirkuk, which has been rocked by recent ethnic unrest, said the US military apologised after the shooting at 8:30 pm (1730 GMT).

Aberle said she was not aware of any apology.

Soran Mohammed, a policeman at the scene, said the two policemen had been in their clearly marked car when the US patrol arrived and had repeatedly shouted "we are police".

The two men, Kurd Ardi Ali and Ibrahim Hadi, a Turkmen, were buried Saturday, while Ali's father demanded compensation for the deaths.

"The Americans are now the enemy of the Iraqis because they have committed this horrible crime," said Ali Hussein Ahmed Shawali.

On Thursday US military leaders in the area met with the heads of Arab, Kurdish, Turkmen and Assyrian parties in Kirkuk that reflect the city's four main ethnic groups.

The Iraqis were asked to limit the number of armed security guards outside their offices to four or five, and not to stage any demonstrations without US military approval.

Kirkuk, which Kurds want to incorporate into an autonomous Kurdish region, following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, has been hit since the end of last year by deadly unrest among Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.

Meanwhile, prayers at a Shiite Muslim mosque northeast of the Iraqi capital were brought to a bloody halt Friday when a powerful bomb exploded outside, killing five Iraqis and injuring 38, police and medics said.

Bodies littered the floor outside the Haj Sadek Banin mosque in Baquba, 60 kilometres (40 miles) from Baghdad, and vehicles were left blazing by the bomb which police said was timed to strike as worshippers left the mosque.

Paramedic Hussein Sadek said five people were killed and 38 wounded in the blast.

"The explosion took place as worshippers were leaving the mosque," doctor Ziad Tarek said, adding that several of the casualties were passers-by.