http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-iraq.htmlBAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 3 — American troops opened fire today on a vehicle carrying armed Shiites to an anti-Israel demonstration in Baghdad, killing two occupants and wounding at least 16, officials said.
While details of the incident remained murky late today, an American military spokesman said the occupants of the van and two other vehicles had first fired at watchtowers at an American military base near the town of Mahmudiya.
American troops responded by firing on the vehicles, killing two people and eventually capturing the van, according to the spokesman, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson.
An official at the Ministry of Interior said the vehicles’ occupants were followers of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, who has called for a mass demonstration on Friday against Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon.