In this image from television, a bullet  riddled car in a street in Fallujah, Iraq is  seen Tuesday, April 29, 2003 , after a  shooting incident Monday night in which  U.S. soldiers opened fire on Iraqis at a  demonstration after being shot at with  automatic rifles by some in the crowd,  Col. Arnold Bray of the 82nd Airborne  Division said Tuesday. The director of the local hospital said 13 people were killed and 75 injured. The shooting took place about 10:30 p.m. Monday in the town of  Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad.  (AP Photo/APTN)

FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. soldiers opened fire on Iraqis at a nighttime demonstration after people shot at them with automatic rifles, soldiers said Tuesday. The director of the local hospital said 13 people were killed and 75 wounded, but U.S. officials said the numbers were probably far lower.  Iraqis who said they took part in the demonstration insisted they were unarmed.  It was the third reported fatal shooting involving U.S. troops and Iraqi protesters in the past two weeks, underscoring the problems facing soldiers whose training focuses more on combat operations than crowd control.  The incidents, widely reported by Arab news media, have served to fuel growing resentment of the U.S. military presence in Iraq only weeks after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.  The latest shooting took place about 10:30 p.m. Monday in the town of Fallujah, roughly 30 miles west of Baghdad. The predominantly Sunni Muslim area provided strong support for Saddam's Baath Party.  Air Force Maj. Gen. Gene Renuart, U.S. Central Command's operations director, said initial reports indicated fewer than 10 Iraqis were injured by U.S. gunfire.

Renuart said that during the demonstration someone in the crowd began firing in the air and others in the crowd pointed weapons at the U.S. soldiers. The American troops, feeling threatened, fired back, he said. 

The 82nd Airborne Division has one battalion spread out around Fallujah, and a company of 150 was inside a school that serves as its headquarters when the shooting took place, soldiers said. 

"There was fire directly over the heads of soldiers on the roof (of the school). They returned fire in order to protect the lives of our soldiers," said Lt. Col. Eric Nantz. 

Dr. Ahmed Ghanim al-Ali, director of Fallujah General Hospital, said there were 13 dead, including three boys no older than 10. He said his medical crews were shot at when they went to retrieve the wounded, which he said numbered 75 people. 

Renuart said about 500 people were demonstrating, but Nantz said there were 200. Renuart said the demonstration was apparently in celebration of Saddam's birthday. 

Townspeople, however, gave different accounts. 

Some said the crowd was objecting to the presence in Fallujah of troops from the 82nd Airborne's 1st Battalion, 325 Regiment. Others said the protest was held by students aged 5 to 20 to ask the soldiers to leave the school where they were staying so classes could resume Tuesday as scheduled. 

Soldiers at the scene said many in the crowd had AK-47 assault rifles and were firing into the air - a common practice at boisterous events. 

"We saw three guys on the roof firing into the (school) building," said Sgt. Nkosi Campbell, pointing at the house across the street from the school. "Everybody could see the muzzle flashes." 

Saying his troops acted with restraint, he said his men were worried about the rules of engagement - whether they should open fire. 

"They turned around and said, `Hey, Sergeant, can we shoot?'" Campbell said. "That was when they were already receiving fire." 

Col. Arnold Bray of the 82nd Airborne Division said there were infiltrators in the crowd, including some who were armed and on nearby rooftops. "Which kind of schoolboys carry AK-47s?" Bray asked. 

But Iraqis interviewed at the hospital insisted it was a peaceful demonstration and that no one was armed or throwing rocks. One wounded 18-year-old man, Aqil Khaleil, said U.S. soldiers opened fire with no warning. 

"They waited until we came very close, and then they started shooting," he said. 

Residents said the shooting continued for at least 30 minutes. Edtesam Shamsudeim, 37, who lives nearby, said her 45-year-old brother died in the gunfire. She was shot in the leg; her husband was wounded. 

"We were sitting in our house. When the shooting started, my husband tried to close the door to keep the children in, and he was shot," she said at the hospital, sitting in a chair with a bandaged leg, surrounded by some of her children. Their clothes were stained with bloody handprints. 

"Americans are criminals," she said. 

The unusual nighttime demonstration sprung from evening prayers held earlier, residents said. 

The demonstration Monday was the first organized protest against the Americans in Fallujah, although one soldier was slightly injured recently when a flare was fired toward some troops, according to Nantz. 

Residents say they had been growing increasingly disturbed by the presence of U.S. forces. 

Some in the conservative town were upset that American soldiers were using night-vision goggles and could see into courtyards and onto rooftops, where women often sleep outside in the hot weather, according to one resident, Basheer Abdul Aziz. 

U.S. forces serving in the area said they have been trained extensively in crowd control. About half of the company involved at the school served in Kosovo, 2nd Lt. Devin Woods said. 

Outside the school Tuesday afternoon, people chanted for U.S. forces to leave Iraq. "Go, go USA!" they shouted in Arabic, adding some English at the end: "Go away!" 

"It's important to sort out the facts of what happened," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "American forces, wherever they are, have the right to defend themselves and they will do so with the utmost care and professionalism. And we'll see exactly what the facts are here." 

There were two earlier reported fatal shootings involving U.S. troops and Iraqi protesters in the past two weeks. 

Marines opened fire during angry demonstrations April 15-16 in the northern city of Mosul. Iraqis said 10 people were killed in the two incidents, although details remained unclear and the Marines insisted they only fired at people who shot at them.