US soldiers shot dead 13 Iraqis including at least six children at a pro-Saddam Hussein rally, witnesses said today.
US commanders said the shooting was in self-defence, without confirming the death toll.
Witnesses in the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, told reporters that US troops had opened fire late last night on demonstrators marking Saddam's birthday, killing 13 and wounding 45.
"The shooting broke out when 500 protestors carrying portraits of Saddam and Iraqi flags approached a school manned by US troops," said one resident.
Another witness said six of those shot dead were children aged just seven or eight. They were buried today in accordance with Islamic tradition. The US troops were "not threatened by the demonstrators," he added.
Lieut Yvonne Lukson at US Central Command said US forces "came upon a group of Iraqis that fired AK-47s at them and they returned fire." She said US command had no information on casualties.
The shooting came amid already highly volatile anti-US feeling in the country, nearly three weeks after US tanks rolled into central Baghdad to end Saddam's 24-year reign.
A huge explosion shook the southeast of the capital later Tuesday and a massive plume of smoke was hanging in the city sky, but the precise location or cause of the blast were not immediately known.
An explosion in a US-guarded arms dump in the city killed six people on Saturday, sparking an anti-US demonstration. A top US general has announced fresh troop deployments to enforce order in Baghdad.
US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld, on a tour of the Gulf region, repeated charges that Syria had helped Saddam's ousted regime but insisted the United States was not "threatening" Syria.
He also announced the United States was withdrawing its air force from Saudi Arabia by mutual agreement now the threat from Iraq has gone. He played down suggestions of a rift with Riyadh in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks - led mainly by Saudi suicide hijackers.
AFP