COPENHAGEN, Aug. 27 — The Danish army said on Wednesday it would compensate the families of two Iraqis killed by Danish soldiers as the defence minister faced opposition calls for his resignation over his handling of the incident.
The army said in a statement that the 80,000 Danish crown ($11,730) payouts were being made after discussions with local Iraqi leaders and according to local customs. The ''matter of guilt'' had not been discussed, it said.
The two Iraqis were killed by a routine Danish patrol west of Basra on August 16 in what was initially described by the Danish military as a gunbattle with looters. A Danish soldier was also killed in the incident, although that was put down to ''friendly fire.''
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The governments of U.S. President George W. Bush, Britain's Tony Blair and Australia's John Howard have all been accused of manipulating intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to justify the war.
Denmark supported the war -- a decision that split both politicians and the people -- and now has 420 troops stationed in southern Iraq as part of a multinational force in the area.
Last month, the government defended its decision to participate in the war, saying it was based on U.N. resolutions and not on intelligence about weapons of mass destruction.
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters08-27-100053.asp?reg=EUROPE This has been in the European /non English media for a few days - the part about the call for the Minister's resignation is LBN though.
The story, as told by Danish TV, is that the Danish soldier and two Iraqi fishermen were erroneously identified as looters (and thus shot). 
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