The darkened stain on the flower-patterned pillowcase is unmistakable as dried blood. Wardrobes have been flung open and their contents thrown everywhere, and bedclothes are piled up on the floor.

It was here, in the bedroom of a house in the Shiite quarter of Al-Aamel in southwest Baghdad, that American soldiers shot dead Jawad Kadom al-Raizi after bursting into the building early on Monday morning.

For those close to him, he was a peaceful 52-year-old family man and truck driver. But to the US military, Raizi was an extremist Shiite leader implicated in dozens of killings.

It is a classic case, and typical for Iraq, of two accounts of one reality.

Raizi's son Adel Jawad, his eyes brimming with tears, gave his version of what happened in their home.

"At around one o'clock, I heard a bang and some shouting. The American soldiers had blown open the door and headed straight for my parents' room," said the teenager, his head wrapped in a red and white keffiyeh scarf.

"They pushed at the door but dad tried to stop them so mum could have time to get dressed. The bastards shot him in the head three times," he said, using a finger to point to his own forehead, right eye and cheekbone.

The Americans, accompanied by Iraqi troops, searched the house after telling the crying family to be quiet.

Acccording to Wathik Abu Fatima, the victim's brother-in-law, "they took away some papers, and also the keys to the house and the family car, which they smashed in with their Humvee."

Abu Fatima, in his thirties and with dark shadows under his eyes, said the soldiers then "left quietly as if nothing had happened -- as if they'd just killed an insect."

Version two of what had happened came several hours later, in an official statement issued by the US military command.

"An extremist brigade commander was killed Jan 21 in the Aamel neighbourhood of Baghdad during an Iraqi Special Operations Forces operation to disrupt extremist networks operating in Baghdad," said the statement.

It said that during the raid -- "with US Special Forces advisers" -- "a man ran from the assault force into another room. The assault force forced the door to the room open and entered to detain the man. In the course of his capture, the man was killed after he attempted to grab a weapon. The man was later identified as the wanted extremist commander."

The funeral took place later on Monday. Several hundred people chanted slogans against the "occupier" as Raizi's coffin of plain wooden planking, draped in the Iraqi flag, was carried through the streets.

To his family, the victim was not involved in politics at all, and was "an ordinary man who was well-liked in the neighbourhood."

To the US military, however, Raizi was "a reported extremist commander who controlled the violent and criminal activities of 10 extremist groups operating within Baghdad.""

"Credible intelligence indicates he and his group are responsible for the sectarian murder of several hundred Iraqi civilians in the past year," the US statement said.

One Iraqi soldier who was on the raid said Raizi was suspected of supplying to, and transporting weapons for, the powerful Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who announced a six-month stand down of his militia's activities last August.

It is difficult to confirm which version of what happened corresponds with reality. What is certain, though, is that over the past two years sectarian violence has claimed innumerable victims in this Shiite bastion of the capital that is ringed by Sunni districts.

In Al-Aamel the Mahdi Army reigns supreme. In the mourning tent set up outside the Raizi house so his family could receive condolences on Tuesday, several of those paying their respects wore the black of Sadr's militia.

"He is a martyr," said one mourner. "Blood creates blood -- our tribes will take their revenge."

But one local dignitary, his fingers heavy with silver rings and a man who obviously had the ear of the militiamen, was more diplomatic.

"This regrettable incident comes at a time when we are involved in many initiatives to restore calm to the district," Abu Ahmed said.

"Contacts with our Sunni neighbours have been re-established and incidents with the Americans are down. But now? If they come back I can no longer give a guarantee..."