from: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0416iraq-military16.html

Looting subsides, but forces engage in shootout in Mosul

Boston Globe
Apr. 16, 2003 12:00 AM

BARTILA, Iraq - Even as the U.S. military worked to restore order in southern Iraq, U.S. soldiers and unidentified gunmen engaged in a fierce midday shootout in central Mosul, leaving at least 10 people dead or wounded.

Also, U.S. military officials said looting that had plagued Baghdad and other cities appeared to be subsiding as signs of normal life started returning to the capital city. And in Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the future of long-term U.S. deployments in the Persian Gulf region is being reconsidered.

But the Mosul firefight raised questions about the coalition's ability to provide security in northern Iraq's largest city, and wildly different accounts of the incident underscored the misgivings Mosul residents have about the coalition's presence.

Iraqis charged that American troops had fired on a crowd as it grew increasingly hostile during a pro-U.S. speech by Mashaan al Jebouri, the governor the coalition has installed in Mosul. A U.S. military spokesman in Mosul denied those charges, saying troops had come under fire from at least two gunmen located in buildings overlooking the central square and had fired back, without aiming at the crowd.

"There were protesters outside, 100 to 150," said the spokesman, who was present during the shooting. "There was fire. We returned fire."

Two Iraqi doctors at Mosul's Republican Hospital said that as many as 100 people were wounded and 10 to 12 killed during the shooting near the local government offices. The doctors, Ayad Al Ramadhani and Zaid Al Taie, said wounded people told them American soldiers had fired on the crowd.

The U.S. spokesman, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said there had been "10 casualties," but that no U.S. troops had been hurt.

Reporters saw a wrecked car in the square and ambulances taking away wounded people as a U.S. warplane flew over at low altitude.

At U.S. 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.

The incident spoiled the debut of Mosul's re-formed Iraqi police force, which had disbanded itself before the Baath Party leadership left the city and its military commander surrendered to coalition forces last Friday.

Brooks said that overall, "we're seeing a steady decrease in looting and lawlessness as more communities organize themselves, but with coalition support."

In Baghdad and elsewhere, coalition troops worked with local police to try to restore calm to the streets. It showed some signs of success in the capital city: Reuters reported that a row of barbershops opened for business while several street-side cafes filled with customers, and double-decker buses started driving their routes again. U.S. military forces in the city were handing out leaflets urging Iraqis to stay at home after dark for security reasons.

"Today there are still four or five sectors where it is a very dangerous place to be," Myers told foreign reporters in Washington. "There is still combat going on."