The Terror After War

Local residents blamed US forces who they said had been bringing Iraqi weapons to the site and detonating cars packed with them over the last three days.

Some turned their anger on Americans, shooting and forcing them back from the scene until they joined forces to search for casualties, soldiers said.

‘‘George Bush and Saddam are both criminals,’’ said a woman, Hasna Aboud, who had relatives among the dead. ‘‘First we had Saddam and now Bush. What did we do to deserve this?’’

Earlier, a local medic ferrying victims to hospital by ambulance said 40 people had been killed.

Local resident Tamir Kalaal said 14 of his relatives were killed when a rocket blew up his home. ‘‘I am the sole survivor. All I have left is her,’’ he said pointing to his one-month-old daughter.

‘‘Those Americans did this,’’ he said. The blasts began at about 8 am. Troops near the scene said the attackers fired four flares, sparking explosions that shot missiles as far as three km away.

‘‘Saddam was a butcher, and now this. This is a residential area. Why are the Americans blowing up weapons here?’’ said Hussein Hafez. Hundreds of people gathered to watch a bulldozer shift the rubble of four houses where Kalaal’s family was killed. Mattresses and clothes were strewn among mangled metal bars and concrete.

‘‘We dug out six people, with our own hands,’’ Nassir Abdel Rahman said. ‘‘May God exact his revenge,’’ added a woman with a bandaged head. About 500 Iraqi men, chanting anti-American, pro-Islam slogans, drove in a convoy of trucks, buses and cars out of the suburb.

‘‘No Americans or Saddam; Yes, Yes to Islam!’’ the men chanted in Arabic, some flying green Islamic flags. Among the slogans were two in English: ‘‘Stop Explosions Near Civilians’’ and ‘‘The Terror After War’’.

The blasts sparked a demonstration where protesters carried banners reading ‘‘No bombs between houses!’’ and ‘‘US forces kill innocents with Saddam’s weapons in Zaafaraniya’’.