Civilian casualties up in Iraq, Embedding more U.S. troops in neighborhoods increases risk,

Civilian casualties rise in IraqEmbedding more U.S. troops in neighborhoods increases risk, military concedes.
By Tina Susman
Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD - On a sunny April afternoon, a bomb ripped a hole in the road near Abu Mohammed's small grocery store. Gunfire crackled along the street as U.S. soldiers responded. Someone pounded on the grocer's locked door, pleading for help.

Mohammed recognized the voice and let in a 17-year-old. He had been struck by a bullet and was bleeding heavily. Within two hours, he was dead. Witnesses say he was killed by U.S. troops firing randomly.

U.S. military officials say troops are trained to avoid civilian casualties and do not fire wildly. Iraqis, however, say that the shootings happen frequently and that even if troops are firing at suspects, they often do so on streets where bystanders are likely to be hit.

Rarely is it possible to confirm such incidents. In this case, the boy was the son of a Los Angeles Times employee, which provided reporters knowledge of the incident in time to examine it. Witness and military accounts of the shooting offered a rare look into how such killings occur.

With more troops on the ground as a result of President Bush's "surge," U.S. military officials acknowledge there are greater chances for civilian casualties.

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