U.S. forces shoot down civilian north of Tikrit

SALAH AL-DIN / IraqiNews.com: An Iraqi civilians was shot down by U.S. soldiers after opening fire at a U.S. patrol on Friday, an Iraqi police source in Tikrit said. “An Iraqi civilian man opened fire from his Kalashnikov assault rifle he took out from his vehicle while a U.S. patrol of several Humvee vehicles were passing by in al-Qadissiya neighborhood, northern Tikrit,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The man opened fire at the patrolmen who fired back, killing him instantly,” he added. “The Iraqi police removed the body of 37-year-old Ibrahim al-Ojaili, a jobless man, to the Tikrit Public Hospital morgue, where his family received it,” the source said. No statements were made by the U.S. army on the incident. Tikrit, the capital city of Salah al-Din province, lies 175 km north of Baghdad. AmR (P) 1