U.S. soldiers kill Iraqis after vehicle doesn’t stop
BAGHDAD - For the second day in a row, U.S. soldiers Tuesday killed Iraqi civilians when they fired on a vehicle that they thought was a threat, the U.S. military said.
The U.S. military also reported that two soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Salah ad Din province. Two other soldiers were wounded. The military provided no further details on the incident and didn’t release the names of the dead.
The shooting deaths of the civilians took place in the al-Shaab neighborhood of northern Baghdad. Two people died and four were injured when a U.S. soldier fired at a minibus that was transporting workers to a bank operated by the Iraqi Finance Ministry, the military said in a statement. But Iraqi police and employees at al-Rasheed Bank said four people were killed, including three women, and that two were injured.
The minibus was driving near a U.S. military outpost when it ended up on a road where only car traffic is permitted, the military said. U.S. soldiers signaled the minibus to stop, and when it didn’t, one of them fired a warning shot.
A spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq acknowledged the deaths of the civilians. “We regret when civilians are killed, and we do feel terrible about it,” the spokesman, Maj. Brad Leighton, said. He said the incident was under investigation.
On Monday, a child and two men were killed when they rushed through a U.S. military roadblock while the military was conducting an operation in Bayji, north of Baghdad.
The back-to-back incidents come as U.S. and Iraqi officials prepare to negotiate a treaty that will set new rules to govern U.S. military activities in Iraq. The announcement of the negotiations was part of a “declaration of principles” that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Bush signed Monday.
Under the agreement, the U.N. authorization that permits U.S. troops to operate in the country will be extended for one final year. After that extension expires in December 2008, a U.S.-Iraq treaty will set the terms for continued U.S. operations.
Those terms are to be negotiated by July 31 and are likely to be influenced by growing Iraqi impatience with the deaths of civilians during U.S. military operations.