MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - At least
10 people were killed and scores wounded in shooting in Mosul, a hospital
doctor said, as other witnesses alleged US troops had opened fire.
"There are perhaps 100
wounded and 10 to 12 dead" following the shooting near the local
government offices in a central square, Dr Ayad al-Ramadhani said Tuesday
at the emergency department of the city hospital.
Three witnesses questioned
by AFP and casualties who spoke to hospital staff said US troops had
fired on the crowd which was becoming increasingly hostile towards
the city's new governor, Mashaan al-Juburi, as he was making a pro-US
speech.
An AFP journalist saw a wrecked
car in the square and ambulances ferrying wounded people to hospital,
while a US aircraft flew over the northern Iraqi city at very low altitude.
US forces in Mosul refused
to comment to AFP, and at US Central Command's war headquarters in
Qatar Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a press briefing he had
seen no military reports of the incident and could not confirm it.