At least four people were injured when Iraqi police fired on former Iraqi soldiers in the southern city of Basra this morning as they staged a protest demanding payment of salaries, witnesses said.
Hundreds of former soldiers protested in front of three banks in Basra after being told their salaries had not been received. They said the last time they were paid was in September, a $150 one-off payment for three months' wages.
"We are bread-earners and have families and want to feed our families," said one former army officer. "Which is better, armed conflict or getting our rights peacefully?"
A spokesman for British forces in Iraq said he was aware of a demonstration in Basra but had not so far received any reports of shots being fired. Basra is part of a southern region of Iraq controlled by British forces, which supported US troops in their invasion of Iraq last March.
Iraq's US governor Mr Paul Bremer abolished the 400,000-strong Iraqi army in May and the United States is recruiting and training an army it envisions as a force of about 40,000.