Baghdad: The commander of US-led forces in Iraq, General Tommy Franks, entered
Baghdad for the first time on April 17 after four weeks of war while deadly violence
flared in Mosul for the second day running.
The shootings in the fractious Northern city left four dead and came as US forces
admitted they were responsible for shooting seven of the 15 people killed there on
April 15.
US forces hailed the capture in Baghdad of Abu Abaas, the Palestinian who
masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro, as proof
that Saddam Hussein's regime "harboured terrorists".
One week after Baghdad fell into US hands following three weeks of heavy bombing, a
US Central Command spokesman said Franks was "in Baghdad and he is meeting with his
commanders".
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Ali Ismail Abbas, who has come to symbolise the human cost of
that bombing after losing both arms and suffering severe burns in a US missile
strike that killed his parents, underwent surgery soon after arriving in Kuwait.
Mosul, the oil-rich city populated by a fractious mix of Kurds and Arabs,
demonstrated again the difficulties the US forces are experiencing in keeping the
peace.
In April 17 clashes, at least four people were killed and several others wounded by
gunshots near government buildings. Several witnesses said that US troops fired on a
crowd from the rooftops of the buildings, but a US Marine officer denied the charge.
