by Muhsen Hussein, Saalan Ahmed, Laith Salman

An American soldier kills an unarmed injured Iraqi in a mosque in Fallujah during the ongoing offensive on the city on Nov. 13. (Xinhua Photo)

    BAGHDAD, Nov. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Most Iraqis were infuriated when they saw an American soldier killing an unarmed injured Iraqi in a mosque in Fallujah during the ongoing offensive on the city.

    In spite of the ruthless killing of the injured man, Iraqis appeared not surprised at the act, and many said "what is concealed is more important."

    "Many of such crimes are not known because no one captured them with a camera, and only by coincidence the cameraman accompanying the US forces capture the short snaps and show them to the world,"said Salam Al Shamaa, an Iraqi journalist.

    "The American forces are trying to limit the case of Fallujah with this man only," commented Muthana Harith Al Dhari, an official spokesperson for the Muslim Scholars' Association in a press conference held on Wednesday.

    "We all know that the American forces would not allow any photo to be released unless it was censored, but they allowed this one sothat it would give the impression that there is only one personal crime and that it is an isolated conduct," added Al Dhari.Calling the event a "repetition of the Abu Ghoraib prison scandals," he said "the reality is very much different from the truth."

    "What is really taking place is a mere smearing of facts to show that the events in Fallujah are personal and that the occupation forces would try the person responsible for them," Al Dhari added.

    "Now that it is confirmed by eye witnesses fleeing Fallujah, we know that the forces are committing shameful humanitarian crimes.""This crime is a violation of rule of war concerning the protection of civilians and worriers and all the international agreements," said Massoud Al Janabi, a lawyer.

    "The Geneva convention forbids any attack on a person not taking part in a battle during war times, and the third joint article in the four Geneva conventions clearly forbids any attack on any person not taking part or no longer taking part in war acts,whether he was injured, captivated, or a civilian," added thelawyer.

    "The deliberate shooting on unarmed fighters and wounded men who are not representing any immediate danger is a war crime according to the international laws," said Mohamed Al Aswad, another lawyer.

    Others believed brutal killings took place in Fallujah, in which children, women and elderly were dying, but many were not caught by camera.

    One of the refugees who fled the scene and arrived at the headquarters of Muslim Scholars' Association said he believed the US forces used chemical weapons and he personally participated in burying 21 persons killed in a suspicious way.

    "Their bodies did not show any wounds of bullets, but they were charred and their eyes swollen in an unnatural way," he said. The violations of the American army in Fallujah added to the notorious record of abusing of detainees by some US captors in the Abu Ghoraib Prison west Baghdad.

    "This is the real terror, which is practiced by the American occupation forces and reveals the reality of the Washington allegations of respect of human rights," said Hatm Massoud, aschool teacher.

    "This act violated all international laws and traditions and shows the basic nature on which democracy is built, and it shows the freedom that America and its president George W. Bush are trying to impose on the Iraqi people," he added.

    International and western human rights organizations have criticized the continuous violations of the American occupation in Iraq since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003. Enditem