Two civilians killed; U.S. apologizes

BAGHDAD – A U.S. military convoy opened fire on a column of cars Sunday morning, killing at least two civilians in southern Iraq and igniting a new round of anger over the apparent loss of innocent life.

Key details were murky – including whether the military convoy fired as it approached the cars from behind, as police contended. The number of fatalities was also unclear.

Police charged that the shootings were unprovoked and said six people, including two policemen, died in a barrage of bullets.

The incident occurred on a day when U.S. officials announced that attacks in Iraq were at their lowest levels in nearly two years.

The first word of the incident came from an apology jointly issued late Sunday by the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. military, but the statement referred to only two deaths and four injuries.

A U.S. military spokesman said the incident was under investigation and declined to release details. The military would confirm only that the deaths were the result of “a shooting incident” near Samawa, the capital of Muthanna province, 160 miles south of Baghdad.

“The shooting was heavy,” said 1st Lt. Hussam Mohammed of the Samawa police department. “They shot from behind. We do not have anything in our report for any reason that would justify the shooting.”

Five cars were damaged during the shooting, which occurred about 10 a.m. Sunday, Mohammed said.

“We profoundly regret when any innocent civilian is killed or injured,” the U.S. statement said. It said the families of those killed, as well as those injured, would be “properly cared for.”

Local government officials, who chided military forces for what they deemed as unnecessary force, denounced the shooting incident.

The governor of Muthanna province, Ahmed Marzook al-Salal, condemned the incident and demanded compensation to the families.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials announced Sunday that attacks in Iraq were at their lowest levels since January 2006 and 55 percent lower since the surge of U.S. troops began in June.

During the same period, civilian deaths throughout Iraq declined 60 percent, said Rear Adm. Greg Smith, spokesman for U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. In Baghdad, civilian fatalities decreased by 60 percent.

“However, we are still in a fight with an enemy that has both the will and capacity to conduct barbaric attacks,” Smith said, “and unfortunately we are reminded of this daily.”

A spate of violence Sunday underscored the point, with dozens of casualties reported.

In one incident, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives as American soldiers were handing out toys to children northeast of Baghdad, killing at least three children and three of the troops, U.S. and Iraqi authorities said.

Seven children were wounded in the attack in Baqouba, where U.S. soldiers wrested control from al-Qaida in Iraq last summer.

Few details were available, but the U.S. military said it was a “suicide vest attack” and that three American soldiers were killed.

Rasoul Issam, 16, said he and his friends were playing soccer when the U.S. soldiers called to them from their vehicles to come get gifts. “We ran toward them and I caught a ball when suddenly an explosion took place about 20 meters (yards) from us,” Issam said from his hospital bed in Baqouba.

Mohammed Sabah, 11, was hit by shrapnel in his hand and chest. “The soldiers gave me pens and I thanked them. After this the explosion took place and I was hit by shrapnel,” he said.

The deaths raised to at least 3,870 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The military cast blame on al-Qaida in Iraq. “This is another example of how AQI cares nothing about the Iraqi people. They will kill children to meet their goals,” said Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in northern Iraq.

Elsewhere, nine civilians died and 20 others were injured when a car bomb exploded Sunday afternoon at a busy square in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood. Police said the blast appeared to target the convoy of a deputy finance minister, who was not among the fatalities.

In Tikrit, a police officer was killed and another injured by an IED that was being transported as evidence.

In Mosul, three civilians died and 16 people were hurt, including five policemen, when a suicide car bomb attacked a checkpoint.