- Ahmed Chalabi, the man the Pentagon has been pushing
as the face of the new Iraq, is mourning the first fatalities within his
ranks.
-
- Two members of Mr Chalabi's pro-US Iraqi National Congress
(INC) and one member of his militia, the Free Iraqi Forces, were shot dead
by US Marines trying to protect a bank in Baghdad.
-
- They are the first post-war casualties among followers
of Mr Chalabi, the exiled Iraqi businessmen who has a force of 1,500 men
armed with Kalashnikovs and US-issued uniforms now operating inside Iraq
and - acting in tandem with the Americans - patrolling in Baghdad and elsewhere.
-
- The three men were shot in their car in the Iraqi capital
late on Friday by a US Abrams tank outside the Central Bank, where US Marines
were mounting guard to stop armed men who had been trying to blast their
way into the vaults using rocket-propelled grenades and welding equipment.
-
- Nearly two weeks after the American tanks rolled in,
Baghdad is still an unstable and dangerous city - there is frequent gunfire
throughout night and day - and the killing is an illustration of the edginess
and suspicion that still prevails among Iraqis and the American forces.
-
- INC and American sources say the US Marines opened fire
because of a misunderstanding. The men in the car, five in all, did not
realise they were being told by the American troops to leave the area.
Three were killed; two injured and taken by the Americans for treatment.
-
- The marines say they fired a warning shot at the car
but the driver, apparently panicking, slewed off in a different direction
- driving across in front of the bank. The US troops opened up, with the
Abrams' 7.62mm guns. The US Army has apologised, conceding unhappily that
- as one marine put it - they "shot the good guys".
-
- Mr Chalabi's spokesman, Zaab Sethna, said yesterday:
"We were very unhappy about it. It happened before the 11pm curfew.
Our people were on their way home. We have made a big noise about it to
the Americans."
-
- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=399349</
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