Return to Fallujah..

IRAQ DAY 2: DEADLY ATTACK ON STUDENTS... 20YRS ON

- CHRIS HUGHES

IT has been 20 years since the killing by US forces of more than a dozen unarmed students which sparked a bloody insurgency throughout Iraq.

Two days of brutality in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, made it the most violent epicentre of the insurgency.

It became the scene of the shocking killings of American mercenaries and two major battles which destroyed the city.

The first shooting was on April 28, just days before US President George W Bush made his "mission accomplished" speech on the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

Baghdad had fallen and dictator Saddam Hussein was on the run.

As many as 18 unarmed students were shot dead and scores wounded outside a school as they protested against US forces conduct in the town.

It seems nobody mentioned it to Bush before he made his notorious speech.

After we heard of the school shooting, myself and photographer Julian Andrews witnessed a follow-up protest at the airborne forces' main Fallujah base.

US troops once again opened fire, killing two- one just yards from us, his blood staining the dust.

The Mirror has returned to the scene and the city's most prominent tribal leader kindly agreed to host us.

Sheikh Ali Hammad Al-Mehamdi is widely respected in Iraq and his clan is the biggest and most important in Fallujah. One local said of the April 2003 killings: "This was a slaughter of innocents - we remember every detail of those incidents. Fallujah will never forget our blood spilling on these streets."

We were the only newspaper team there for a second demonstration, again unarmed, at the US base. As the crowd of mostly young men hurled flip-flops at a passing US Humvee patrol, a young soldier opened fire with a .50 calibre machine gun.