Seven US soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack at their base in the Iraqi city of Falluja, the US military said this morning.
"The attack was an expression of the anger of a few people in the city after what happened," Capt Alan Vaught said in reference to the US army's shooting dead of 15 Iraqi civilians at anti-American demonstrations this week.
The soldiers, whose injuries are not life threatening, were evacuated from the compound in the city which is about 30 miles west of Baghdad.
Capt Vaught said there was an exchange of gunfire between Iraqis and the US troops after the attack but there were no additional injuries.
Tension has been running high in the conservative Sunni Muslim town over the presence of US troops.
On Monday US soldiers fired on an crowd protesting at continued US occupation of Falluja, killing 13 Iraqis and wounding more than 70. Two days later, two Iraqis were killed when US soldiers opened fire in a similar incident.
The US military said its troops were shot at first in both incidents, but Iraqi witnesses said the shootings were unprovoked.
AFP