| Fallujah massacres of April 2003 | |
|---|---|
| Part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq | |
 | |
| Location | Fallujah, Iraq |
| Date | April 28–30, 2003 |
Attack type | Civilian killings |
| Deaths | 20 local residents |
| Injured | 70+ local residents 3 U.S. Army soldiers |
| Perpetrators | U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment |
| Motive | Soldiers claimed to be under fire by gunman in the crowd, a claim investigated inconclusively by HRW |
The Fallujah massacres of April 2003 began when United States Army soldiers from the American 1st Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division fired into a crowd of Iraqi civilians who were protesting their presence at a school in the city of Fallujah, killing 17 protestors. Human Rights Watch inspected the area after the incident, and found no evidence of shots fired at the building where U.S. forces were based.[1]
- ^ Iraq: U.S. Should Investigate al-Falluja (Report). Human Rights Watch. June 17, 2003. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
The 18-page report... challenges the U.S. military's assertion that its troops came under direct fire from individuals in the crowd of protesters on April 28. Human Rights Watch found no conclusive evidence of bullet damage on the school where the soldiers were based. In contrast, buildings facing the school had extensive multi-caliber bullet impacts that were inconsistent with U.S. assertions that soldiers had responded with "precision fire."