US occupation forces shot dead two Iraqis and wounded two others after coming under fire and suffering one wounded in the town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the US military said on Tuesday.
The shootings occurred on Monday night after protesters took to the streets, stormed the governor's building and put up Saddam Hussein posters following his. "US forces were fired upon wounding one US soldier," a spokeswoman said, according to the AFP. "US forces returned fire killing two and wounding two."
A US soldier died when his military vehicle hit a roadside bomb near Baghdad, the army said on Tuesday.
The incident in Ramadi, 100 kilometres west of the capital, came after two other Iraqis were shot dead in Fallujah, police and reporters at the site said. The two were shot inside a car, said Iraqi police Lieutenant Hamid Ali Bardi.
Violence erupted in this town, 60 kilometres west of Baghdad, after pro-Saddam demonstrators sacked the regional government offices there, forcing police to flee, journalists at the scene said.
US Central Command said Monday that in the previous 24 hours US forces in al-Anbar province, west of Baghdad had killed three "enemy personnel" and captured 16 in the course of "security operations" while suffering one US death.
Central Command said two "enemy" personnel died in an exchange of fire with a patrol of US paratroops.
"In addition, a reconnaissance (team) engaged four armed enemy personnel northeast of Fallujah with small arms fire, killing one," the statement said.
Near Ramadi, another center of the resistance to the US occupation, a US patrol was ambushed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. One Iraqi fighter died when the US unit returned fire, Central Command said. (Albawaba.com)
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