BAGHDAD, April 4 (UPI) -- Spanish soldiers killed three Iraqi protesters supporting a Shiite leader and injured several others Sunday in the Iraqi southern holy city of Najaf.
Eyewitnesses said the Spanish troops, part of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, opened fire with automatic weapons as protesters surrounded the Coalition Provisional Authority building.
The protesters, supporters of a Shiite leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, were demanding the freedom of al-Sadr's top aide, Sheikh Mustafa al-Yacoubi, believed to have been detained by the Spanish forces.
The protesters also demanded the lifting of a ban on al-Sadr's newspaper, al-Hawza al-Nateqa, which U.S. officials shut down on charges it was instigating violence against the coalition.
The demonstrators chanted slogans against the United States, Israel and the interim Iraqi Governing Council.
Similar demonstrations were held Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra.
