Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/30/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / SHOOTING (L)

NUMBER=2-302743

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE= FALLUJA, IRAQ

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: At least two Iraqis have been killed and more than a dozen injured in a new shooting incident in the town of Falluja, west of Baghdad. The U-S military says shots were fired at a passing convoy and soldiers responded. It is the second shooting incident in the town in three days. Correspondent Laurie Kassman reports from Falluja.

TEXT: U-S Army Colonel Tobin Green says demonstrators had gathered in the morning outside the compound where U-S troops are based. As Apache helicopters overhead patrolled the area, he describes what happened next.

/// GREEN ACT ///

That crowd later threw rocks at U-S forces and coalition members in the compound and later at a vehicle movement or a serial (convoy) that drove by. That escalated to gunfire that led to the return of gunfire.

/// END ACT ///

Colonel Green says shots were fired as a convoy of six army vehicles passed on the street behind the demonstrators.

Witnesses say the crowd had gathered in the morning to protest another shooting incident in which more than a dozen Iraqis were killed Monday.

/// CHANTING AND FADE ///

A small group of protesters returned in the early afternoon, chanting for American troops to leave the town. They yelled, "We do not shoot at you, so do not shoot at us".

Colonel Green says he has met with the town's self-appointed mayor and other local leaders to find a way to ease tensions.

/// 2nd GREEN ACT ///

I think that the resistants or non-compliants is limited to a very small number. I do. I think some of the difficulty is when those small numbers get into a large population of innocent civilians just trying to carry out their life in the city, it is bad news for everybody. In effect the non-compliant, the evil-doers, are deliberately placing at risk all of the good civilians.

/// END ACT ///

Falluja's mayor says he has asked that U-S forces move away from the town's school and mosques. The mayor says residents see the troops presence around those buildings as a provocation.

The town, just west of Baghdad, was known before the war as a stronghold of Saddam Hussein supporters. (SIGNED)

NEB/LMK//AWP/RAE