Chalabi's men shot dead by American Marines

Chalabi's men shot dead by American Marines

By Phil Reeves in Baghdad

22 April 2003

Ahmed Chalabi, the man the Pentagon has been pushing as the face of the new Iraq, is mourning the first fatalities within his ranks.

Two members of Mr Chalabi's pro-US Iraqi National Congress (INC) and one member of his militia, the Free Iraqi Forces, were shot dead by US Marines trying to protect a bank in Baghdad.

They are the first post-war casualties among followers of Mr Chalabi, the exiled Iraqi businessmen who has a force of 1,500 men armed with Kalashnikovs and US-issued uniforms now operating inside Iraq and – acting in tandem with the Americans – patrolling in Baghdad and elsewhere.

The three men were shot in their car in the Iraqi capital late on Friday by a US Abrams tank outside the Central Bank, where US Marines were mounting guard to stop armed men who had been trying to blast their way into the vaults using rocket-propelled grenades and welding equipment.

Nearly two weeks after the American tanks rolled in, Baghdad is still an unstable and dangerous city – there is frequent gunfire throughout night and day – and the killing is an illustration of the edginess and suspicion that still prevails among Iraqis and the American forces.

INC and American sources say the US Marines opened fire because of a misunderstanding. The men in the car, five in all, did not realise they were being told by the American troops to leave the area. Three were killed; two injured and taken by the Americans for treatment.

The marines say they fired a warning shot at the car but the driver, apparently panicking, slewed off in a different direction – driving across in front of the bank. The US troops opened up, with the Abrams' 7.62mm guns. The US Army has apologised, conceding unhappily that – as one marine put it – they "shot the good guys".

Mr Chalabi's spokesman, Zaab Sethna, said yesterday: "We were very unhappy about it. It happened before the 11pm curfew. Our people were on their way home. We have made a big noise about it to the Americans."