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Tensions Rise After U.S. Troops Conduct House-to-House Searches

HeadlineMay 30, 2003

Tensions are also escalating in the industrial Iraqi town of Hit, some 90 miles northwest of Baghdad. The New York Times reports a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a U.S. convoy on Tuesday. U.S. troops responded conducting house-to-house searches. Residents say the soldiers kicked down doors while an assault helicopter circled above. According to The New York Times, residents are furious that U.S. soldiers had burst in on Muslim women in their homes. The next day, as soldiers talked with local authorities in the police station, a crowd gathered and pelted the station with stones. Then someone threw a hand grenade over the wall. Two soldiers were injured. The soldiers formed a cordon with their guns aimed outward as they evacuated their wounded and warning shots rang out. One local man said he had been shot in the leg. When the troops retreated, the crowd rioted for hours, burning the municipal building and the police station in protest of what was viewed as the collaboration of the police. The U.S. military says six U.S. soldiers have been killed this week under hostile fire.

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