British Marines Clash With Iraqi Troops; 2,000 Kurds Riot in Zakhu

ZAKHU, Iraq — British marines wounded two Iraqi soldiers Monday in the first exchange of gunfire since coalition troops arrived in northern Iraq, officials said. Elsewhere, Kurdish refugees rioted in opposition to Saddam Hussein, overturning cars and attacking Iraqi police until U.S. forces intervened.

A patrol of 10 British marines fired on Iraqi soldiers at one of Hussein’s summer palaces near the city of Sirsenk after being fired on twice, British spokesmen said.

“The Iraqis have confirmed to us that two of their people were hit” in the shootout, a British officer said. An official Iraqi statement released in Baghdad denied that any exchange of fire took place or that any Iraqi casualties resulted.

The frustrations of the Kurds boiled over in the city of Zakhu on Monday as an anti-Hussein protest turned into a riot as about 2,000 Kurds bore down on the station where the 50 Iraqi police permitted to remain in town were holed up.

The U.S. Army military police commander, Col. Lucious Delk, said the crowd pelted the police station with rocks and destroyed or overturned five police cars. Rioters swarmed inside the station but were blocked by about 50 Army MPs, who moved them back onto the street, he reported.

“If those people had gotten up those stairs, they would have killed the Iraqis,” said Delk. “They’re mean.”

“Thanks for the Americans we are alive,” agreed one police officer, Ahmed Abdullah.