US forces shot dead two Iraqi civilians south of Baghdad on Saturday following a bomb attack on their convoy, Iraq security officials said, while the US military denied its soldiers opened fire. "A roadside bomb hit a US convoy in Yusifiyah on the road to Hilla," an interior ministry official said. "American forces opened fire randomly, killing two civilians and wounding five."
A police lieutenant in Yusifiyah, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Baghdad, confirmed the incident, which he said took place about 7:00 pm (1600 GMT), but put the toll at two dead and three wounded, one of them seriously. Both spoke on condition of anonymity. However, Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for United States Forces - Iraq, said that US troops did not open fire, and that no injuries were reported. The Thursday incident is the first reported killing of Iraqi civilians by US forces since US President Barack Obama announced on October 21 that American troops will depart Iraq by the end of 2011.
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