ANGRY shoppers tackled Foreign Secretary Jack Straw about the Iraq war when he addressed crowds in Bolton town centre from his soap box.

Mr Straw denied the Government had been wrong to go to war, before mingling with people in Victoria Square.

He had told crowds of around 150 people who had gathered to hear him speak on Tuesday that unemployment in Bolton had been slashed during Labour's seven years in power.

But war in Iraq dominated the agenda as Mr Straw campaigned for Labour candidates in the local council and euro elections.

Raad Maliki, a Kurdish immigrant, told Mr Straw how his cousin had died in a hospital during the first Gulf War because of lack of medicine.

Mr Maliki, aged 17, of Great Lever, condemned the Allies for failing to protect hospitals and schools during the recent conflict.

Afterwards, Mr Maliki said: "We were told Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction but it wasn't true.

"The troops should have done more to protect Iraqi people by securing school and hospitals."

American-born mum Beth Wolstenholme, aged 26, was angry at the decision to go to war because her father had died of injuries he had sustained in the Vietnam War.

"I told Mr Straw that I did not agree with what the Government had done but he said he thought the war was justified," she said.

"He is wrong but I am glad he took the time to answer my concerns."

Addressing the crowds, Mr Straw said: "The decision we took to go to war was difficult but it is as justified now as when we first made it.

"We are now seeing in Iraq the beginnings of democracy."

Mr Straw also met with Muslim leaders in Bolton Town Hall before flying back to London on Government business.

Bolton Council's Labour leader, Cllr Bob Howarth, joined in the debates with shoppers and workers.

He told Mr Maliki: "There is no man on this earth who has killed more Muslims than Saddam Hussein."