U.S. forces kill citizen, relatives say was executed

SALAH AL-DIN / IraqiNews.com: U.S. forces handed over the body of a man who was shot dead to the Iraqi police in Baiji city, claiming that he was a gunman who attacked a U.S. patrol that killed him, a source from Salah al-Din police said on Saturday, while the dead man’s relatives said that the forces killed him in front of his family. “The dead man was in his thirties, and he was shot in the chest,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The U.S. side of the story is that he was a gunman who attacked a U.S. patrol in central Baiji suburb (35 km north of Tikrit), and the patrol responded and killed him instantaneously,” he said. Ahmed Abdullah, one of the dead man’s relatives, said “U.S. forces conducted a raid operation on al-Taameem neighborhood and killed the 37-year-old man in front of his family after entering his room.” “The victim was detained by U.S. forces and released three days ago,” Abdullah added. No comment is available from the U.S. side. Tikrit, the capital city of Salah al-Din province, lies 175 km north of Baghdad. MH (P) / SS 1