WRAP Aftermath of US strike, at least one dead

(23 Sep 2003) SHOTLIST Al Sajr, near Fallujah 1. Various shots of US Kiowa helicopters flying over site 2. Relative of victim walking in courtyard where craters are visible 3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmed Khalef Mohammed, relative of victim: "I saw shadows of people walking besides the houses so I shouted 'who is that?' and they began to fire at us from their 'GC' guns (local term for an automatic rifle), so I ran away. They called in their jet fighters and I ran away and they began the strike." 4. Blood splattered on floor 5. Mid shot damaged room and blood stains Baghdad 6. Lieutenant Kate Noble walking 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Australian Army Lieutenant Kate Noble, Coalition military spokesperson: "The reports that we have at the moment indicate that at about 0200 hours this morning, north of Fallujah, soldiers from the 82nd Airborne came under attack. Those attackers subsequently fled to a building, and were pursued by coalition forces, who formed a defensive perimeter in the area. As a part of forming that defensive perimeter, close air support was called in. And at this stage the information that we have indicates that one enemy was killed in action." 8. Cutaway badge 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Australian Army Lieutenant Kate Noble, Coalition military spokesperson: "Anytime coalition forces come under attack, we are trained and we are responsible under the laws of armed conflict to respond with an appropriate level of force - that is a commander's decision on the ground. So obviously he felt that this was the appropriate level of force to respond to the threat. We do everything we can to minimise civilian casualties. Unfortunately in times of conflict they do occur." Fallujah 10. Exterior of Fallujah general hospital 11. Various shots of injured Iraqis said to have been hurt by the US airstrike at al-Sajr STORYLINE US forces carried out a combined air and ground attack early on Tuesday, killing at least one person and wounding three others in a village north of Fallujah in central Iraq. A police officer in Fallujah told APTN that three separate explosions were heard and that three people had been killed and three others injured. The US military in Baghdad confirmed the incident, at the village of al-Sajr, 15 kilometres (nine miles) north of Fallujah, but said it knew of only one death. The village lies in the region known as the "Sunni Triangle," the part of Iraq north and west of Baghdad where support for Saddam Hussein runs strongest and where US troops have met violent resistance. Coalition military spokesperson Lieutenant Kate Noble said the fighting started early on Tuesday after troops from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division were attacked. The attackers ran into a building and ground troops called in air support, the spokeswoman said, adding that one attacker was killed. Helicopters could be seen over the scene of the fighting at dawn on Tuesday. There were two big craters in courtyards of the houses that were involved, indicating bombs of some sort had been dropped. The injured were treated in Fallujah's general hospital. They included two boys - Hussein, 11, and his brother Tahseen, nine, whose father Ali Khalaf Mohammed, 45, was reportedly killed in the incident. Hussein lay in his hospital bed wearing a blood-soaked gown. His brother was a few metres (yards) away, his face swollen from facial cuts and his right thigh bearing shrapnel wounds. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...