New report indicates U.S. troops shot dead 17 and injured 70 in Fallujah on April 28 without provocation. No evidence has emerged that Iraqis shot at the U.S. soldiers first.

In Baghdad this morning, U.S. troops opened fire on Iraqi demonstrators during a protest outside the main gate of the presidential compound. Iraqi protesters said two demonstrators were killed.

US military is saying a soldier opened fire after the demonstrators started throwing stones at a military convoy. This according to the BBC.

Demonstrations outside the Republican Palace have been frequent since coalition forces captured the Iraqi capital in April. Protests have often arisen over unpaid wages to civil servants and the army.

Well now we are going to take another look at another protest in Iraq where U.S. troops opened fire on Iraqi demonstrators.

On April 28 in the town of Fallujah, U.S. troops killed 17 and injured 70. Witnesses said US troops from the 82nd Airborne Division fired without provocation on an unarmed crowd of protesters outside a local school.

The Pentagon claimed its soldiers were fired on by gunmen among the demonstrators.

But a new report by Human Rights Watch raises questions as to what actually happened that day in Fallujah.

Human Rights Watch said yesterday, the United States should hold a “full, independent and impartial” inquiry into the “apparent use of excessive force” by American troops who allegedly fired on a crowd of demonstrators in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.

• Fred Abrahams, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch who authored the new report “Violent Response: The U.S. Army in al-Falluja.”

Link:

“Violent Response: The U.S. Army in al-Falluja”