Four children killed by gunfire after Baghdad attack
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-25 17:28

Four schoolchildren were killed by gunfire in Baghdad on Sunday, shortly after a roadside bomb ripped through a US military vehicle, witnesses said.

Some witnesses said the children, all aged around 12, were shot dead by US troops who had opened fire randomly after the blast on Canal Street in eastern Baghdad. At least five other people were wounded.

The children had left their nearby school to look at the burning Humvee, the witnesses said. Children and some passersby were "celebrating" the attack near the vehicle when the deadly shots were fired.

The US military had no immediate word on the incident.

"I saw a child lying on the street with a bullet hole in his neck and another in his side," said a driver who witnessed the incident. "He had his schoolbag on his back. Some 15 minutes later his relatives came and took his body away."

A nearby hospital confirmed receiving the bodies of four children with gunshot wounds.

The targeted Humvee was part of a military convoy driving through the street.

Two soldiers in the Humvee were evacuated from the scene by military medics, they said.

Close

Today's Top News     Top World News
China reports 4 new suspected SARS cases         Chinese economy facing challenges         Local gov't debts sound warning         Red Cross: North Korea site flattened         China's per capita GDP to hit US$3,000 in 2020         Da Vinci: Inventor of the Car?	Red Cross: North Korea site flattened       Finance ministers see strong global economic growth       Saudis aided in Iraq more than thought       Landslide in Indonesia kills at least 38       Official: Bush confers on Fallujah       4 dead, 8 injured in Illinois plant blast