U.S. troops leave school after deadly clash with Iraqis

Central Command: Soldiers acted in self-defense

Fallujah, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. troops pulled out of a school in a farming community 40 miles west of Baghdad on Tuesday night, a day after their presence there sparked a deadly clash with hundreds of Iraqi protesters.

Conflicting accounts emerged about Monday night's confrontation in Fallujah that Red Cross officials said killed at least 15 civilians and wounded up to 53 others. Among the dead were three boys under the age of 11, Red Cross officials said.

The violence broke out as the demonstrators approached members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division -- based at the elementary school -- and demanded that they leave, according to a telecommunications engineer. (Full story)

U.S. Central Command said that the protesters fired on the soldiers with AK-47s and that the soldiers fired back in self-defense.

According to CNN's Karl Penhaul the demonstrators say that didn't occur. They say that some of their number did start throwing stones, and that is what prompted the U.S. soldiers to open fire. The engineer says that at that point "all hell broke loose." (On the Scene: Karl Penhaul)

One U.S. Army sergeant said he shot at what he saw, "and what I saw was targets. Targets with weapons, and they were going to harm me."

"It's either them or me, and I took the shot, sir, and I'm still here talking to you," he said.

A second U.S. soldier said the clash began when some protesters started throwing rocks at the soldiers and others started chanting.

"Then others joined in throwing rocks, and others brought weapons to the party," the soldier said. "Then they started firing them -- not just into the air but toward the soldiers on top of the buildings."

The confrontation reportedly went on for hours.

The situation at Fallujah is under investigation, Pentagon officials said.

U.S. military officials said they occupied the school originally because they had evidence that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein used schools to stash weapons.

Soldiers said they found no evidence that the Iraqi military stored weapons at this school, but they said they decided to stay in the building to keep control of the neighborhood. They moved in five days ago, military officials said.

Residents said U.S. soldiers had occupied the 20-classroom school for 10 days.