CRI听力：Iraq: National Football Team Wins Asian Cup

Ecstatic Iraqis celebrated across the country on Sunday after the country clinched its first Asian Cup football championship.

An Iraqi fan cheers during the final match between Saudi Arabia and Iraq at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup soccer tournament at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta July 29, 2007. Iraq edged Saudi Arabia 1-0 to lift the Cup for first time in history. [Reuters]

But the joy was tinged with tragedy, as four people were killed by stray celebratory gunfire, as Iraqi's followed the traditional custom of firing into the air in celebration.

Iraqis were welcoming a rare moment of joy as the national team beat three times champions Saudi Arabia by one goal to nil, and revellers poured onto the streets.

This was one fan's reaction to the win...

"The Iraqi people really deserve this victory. Despite all their misfortunes, the Iraqi people are champions."

Despite strict orders from government authorities, who had warned that people firing weapons into the air illegally would be arrested, there was spontaneous gunfire on the streets.

In addition to the four fatalities at least 17 people were wounded, some seriously.
Police in the predominantly Shiite southern city of Nasiriyah reported at least nine people, including three children, wounded by the gunfire.

Mosques broadcast calls for the shooting to stop, while security forces enforced a vehicle ban in the capital in an effort to prevent a repeat of the car bombings that killed dozens as they celebrated Iraq's passage through to the finals last Wednesday.

In contrast to the sectarian violence that has riven Iraq in recent years the victorious team embodied the country's ethnic diversity - the three front-line strikers consisted of one Kurd, one Shiite and one Sunni.