Seven US soldiers were today wounded in a grenade attack on their base in the Iraqi city of Falluja, where troops have killed at least 15 civilians during protests this week.
An American military spokesperson said the incident appeared to be a revenge attack after US troops in the town opened fire on anti-American demonstrators for the second time in three days.
Captain Alan Vaught said: ”The attack was an expression of the anger of a few people in the city after what happened.”
None of the injuries to soldiers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was life threatening, he added.
Troops inside the former police station fired on men seen fleeing the area following the assault, but no one was captured or believed hit.
The 1 am (2100 GMT Wednesday) attack came less than 24 hours after soldiers shot at anti-American demonstrators massed outside the compound, killing two and wounding 18, according to hospital officials.
US officers said that barrage was provoked when someone fired on the convoy from the crowd but Iraqi witnesses disputed this, saying there was no gunfire from the demonstrators.
That march was staged to protest a another shooting on Monday night, when US troops fired on a demonstrating crowd. Sixteen Iraqis were killed and more than 50 wounded.
Residents of Falluja said they had heard relatives of victims vow to avenge these incidents. Today’s grenade attack, they said, was the result.
The city’s mayor, whose compound is next door to the US base, confirmed there was an attack on the base but said he did not know who the assailants were.
Officials and citizens in Falluja have repeatedly called on American troops to leave the city, a conservative Sunni Muslim city and Ba’ath party stronghold 30 miles west of Baghdad.
The latest clash between Iraqis and US troops comes on the same day that President George W Bush is to deliver a keynote address to the American nation declaring the war in Iraq a success.
His speech to the nation from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, as it returns home from the Gulf, will stop short of a formal victory declaration, however, with the administration still seeking hard evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and sporadic resistance continuing.
The announcement will not amount to a formal end to hostilities, but will set the stage for the US-led campaign in Iraq to focus on reconstruction. – Guardian Unlimited Â