October 6, 2003	Monday	Sha’aban 9, 1424

BASRA, Oct 5: British and US troops clashed on Sunday with hundreds of former soldiers of Saddam Hussein’s army in a second day of violent confrontations which have left at least three Iraqis dead and scores wounded.

British soldiers fired rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of former Iraqi conscripts who hurled rocks and set tyres ablaze in the southern city of Basra.

The protesters gathered early on Sunday after a British soldier shot dead an armed man in Basra the previous day during clashes with Iraqis who had gathered to collect redundancy payments for being laid off from the Iraqi army.

Ex-soldiers also clashed with US troops for a second day in Baghdad near a payment centre where they are given their $40 compensation for losing their jobs. Around 200 Iraqi men confronted American soldiers, shouting and waving their fists, before being pushed back away from the area.

Violent protests erupted on Saturday at payment centres in Baghdad, Basra and the town of Hilla. Iraq’s US-led administration said supporters of Saddam fuelled the unrest by spreading rumours there was not enough money to pay everyone.

The US military said two Iraqis were believed to have been killed in the unrest in Baghdad on Saturday.

“Reports to us indicate that there were two killed in Baghdad, and that’s from the Iraqi police, not the coalition,” spokesman Lieutenant Colonel George Krivo said. Two US soldiers were also wounded, he said.

Locals in Basra said five people had been wounded on Sunday by rubber bullets. Iraqi police arrived to help quell the violence and fired in the air, but fled to a nearby university building after running out of bullets, chased by the crowd.

Mohammed Jasim Abboud, one of the protesters, said former soldiers needed jobs and money.

“We’ve had no wages for a while now,” he said. “We want our rights like everyone else.”—Reuters

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