BAGHDAD: Iraqi teenager Abbas Khadum died in his father’s arms, one of 25 men who locals say were shot dead in a single day by US troops in a crackdown on Shia militiamen in east Baghdad.

His mother fought back tears while his father held a picture of the 19-year-old, his hair slicked back and dressed in a smart shirt buttoned up to his chin, as he gave his version of how US troops had killed his son.

US forces said Khadum was one of 11 “special group” criminals a term used to describe fighters armed, funded and trained by Iranians attempting to plant roadside bombs. His parents say he was just walking to university.

Khadum’s family live in the heart of the Al-Obeidi neighbourhood, where many followers of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are rumoured to have sought refuge after being driven out of nearby Sadr City.

Khadum’s family home, an anonymous rectangular building with an iron gate, is around a dozen metres from a wide main road, part-hidden by a large concrete wall erected in mid May by US forces to disrupt militia activities.

US forces built concrete barriers throughout Baghdad in a bid to prevent insurgents launching roadside bomb attacks on military convoys and to block militia movements.

People angry at the presence of the ugly grey barrier protested and launched regular attacks against it, to bring it crashing down.

But, according to Khadum’s father, Abu Abbas, American forces hit back.

“In the middle of the night, the Americans positioned themselves on a roof of a nearby building site which overlooks the wall,” he said, his bespectacled face framed in a traditional red keffiyeh scarf.

“About 11 am, my son was due to go to university with his friends. With all the shooting, he told them not to come and meet him at the house, but to wait a few streets away.

“He left and then a few minutes later, I was called and told he had been wounded. I raced to him. He had been shot in the back, at shoulder level. He was still breathing. He died in my arms as we took him to hospital,” he said.—AFP