FALLUJAH, July 2: US forces struggled to convince residents of Fallujah on Wednesday that a blast at a mosque this week that left seven people dead was not caused by a US airstrike but a bomb-making class that went wrong.

Tensions in the Iraqi town ran high, fulled by rumours that Monday’s explosion was the result of a missile strike, while US troops took to the streets to convince angry residents they had no involvement in the explosion.

“We are not going to attack a mosque,” Sergeant Jason McCain insisted, addressing a crowd of angry residents demanding explanations. “Unless someone is shooting at us, we are never going to shoot at a mosque.”

The official US explanation for the blast strongly denied any involvement, suggesting in a statement that “the explosion was apparently related to a bomb-manufacturing class that was being taught inside the mosque.”

The US account tallied with one rumour circulating in the town, that the mosque imam — who was killed along with six people believed to be theology students — was providing instruction in the use of rocket-propelled grenades.

The rockets, designed for knocking out tanks, have been the weapon of choice in a string of attacks on US positions in the flashpoint town, around 50 kilometres west of Baghdad.

In another part of the town, US troops discussed the strike with locals gathered under the awning at the front of a welding workshop.

“If we had hit it with a missile, it would have destroyed the whole building and probably some of the houses around it,” Sergeant Wettstein Grey told the crowd. “You’ve seen war, you know the kind of damage a missile causes.”

“It was a surveillance plane,” he insisted, responding to Iraqi claims they heard — some say saw — a US jet around the time of the explosion.

“Something inside there blew up,” he added.

The town has been tense since US troops shot dead at least 16 protesters in April, with regular attacks ever since targeting their positions around a key power installation and the local government building.

The occupying troops, who face angry claims that they are deliberately withholding electricity, have been anxious not to inflame passions faced with the cultural sensitivities of operating in a Muslim country.

The US military statement said that forces “continue to be respectful of Muslim tradition by not entering the mosque” in the town while conducting inquiries.—AFP