By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, April 5, 2008

BAGHDAD, April 4 -- The U.S. military has launched an investigation into the shooting deaths of three Iraqi civilians, including a 2-year-old girl, after numerous witnesses reported that they were killed by gunfire from American soldiers.

Last Saturday evening, Abbas Ramadan was killed along with his granddaughter Tabarik as they sat outside their house in Baghdad's Zafraniya neighborhood. Witnesses said U.S. troops fired in their direction, apparently targeting a group of young men whom they believed to be Shiite militiamen. A neighbor, Abbas Fadhil, was also killed, while another neighbor was injured, with bullet wounds to the leg and chest.

On Tuesday, after an article about the incident was published in The Washington Post, U.S. soldiers in four Humvees visited relatives of the victims. A U.S. military officer apologized to the relatives and offered compensation, relatives said. U.S. soldiers took photos of the wall of a house, a gate, and a storefront pocked with large bullet holes.

Tabarik's father, Ghadeer Abbas, said he handed the U.S. officer a badly dented and misshapen bullet that he said was proof that the U.S. soldiers had fired in their direction.

U.S. military officials declined to comment. "There is an ongoing investigation, so we cannot provide any specifics until it is completed," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman. "We do take these events very seriously and grieve along with the family for their loss."

On Monday, the U.S. military had said there were no reports of accidental deaths of civilians caught in crossfire in the area on that Saturday evening. Nor did U.S. troops engage hostile forces, the military said.

On Friday, Maj. Alan Stout, another U.S. military spokesman, said that he now believed there was an engagement with hostile forces at the time. Citing the ongoing probe, he also declined to provide details.

In a telephone interview, Abbas said the U.S. troops walked up to their funeral tent Tuesday evening, on the third day of mourning for his daughter and father. When Abbas asked about the shooting, he said the American officer expressed regret. Abbas showed them the bullet holes. The soldiers took photos, including one, Abbas said, of him standing in front of the bullet holes, clutching a portrait of his daughter and father. The U.S. officer was clearly moved by the death of Tabarik, witnesses said. The officer handed Abbas papers to fill out. The U.S. military typically distributes about $2,500 for the killing of an Iraqi civilian.

"What can compensation do? I lost my daughter and father," Abbas recalled telling him. "I felt I could never forgive them for what they have done," he added. The U.S. troops also visited the house of Abdul Qader, the injured man. "They asked me, 'How were you hit?' " recalled Abdul Qader. "I replied, 'It was you, your soldiers who shot me.' " The officer apologized and offered to compensate him for his wounds, Qader said. The officer made a similar offer afterward to Abbas Fadhil's father, who lives across the street.