US troops have opened fire to disperse an angry crowd of former Iraqi soldiers, wounding several who had come to collect their redundancy pay in Baghdad, witnesses say.
Witnesses said hundreds of former soldiers hurled rocks and shouted abuse at US troops, who fought back with batons and fired shots in the air.
"We came to collect our wages, and we came peacefully," ex-soldier Adnan Faris told journalists.
"We didn't do anything to provoke them. But they started hitting us with hosepipes and batons, and in the end they even started shooting. Seven or eight Iraqis were wounded."
A US military spokeswoman said she had no immediate information on the incident.
The US-led administration in Iraq officially disbanded the country's army in May, leaving hundreds of thousands of men unemployed and resentful.
After violent protests, authorities agreed to pay former soldiers redundancy money, and hundreds queue up daily at the disused airport to receive their cash -- about $40 each.