hungry crusaders kill chickens

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - U.S. troops opened fire on a truck carrying live
chickens near the tense town of Fallujah, killing five civilians aboard the
vehicle, including a father and his two sons, relatives said Wednesday.

The shooting took place at a roadblock Tuesday night, they said. Fallujah is
the site of numerous anti-American attacks and U.S. soldiers in the area
have been on high alert.

"They went to bring chickens . . . and they came back at 9 or 10 at night,"
said Khalid Khalifa al-Jumaily, whose two nephews were killed on the truck.
"The Americans fired on them."

On Wednesday, reporters saw U.S. troops delivering one body from an army
ambulance to waiting families. In the morgue, reporters saw several bodies
with what appeared to be gunshot wounds.

A spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad had no immediate comment on the
attack.

This weekend, U.S. jets dropped three 225-kilogram bombs near Fallujah after
three U.S. paratroopers were wounded in an ambush.