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April 3rd,
2008 - Strike Kills Family Trio in Iraq |
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Strike Kills Family Trio in
Iraq By Reuters April 3, 2008 A US military air strike on
a house in the southern Iraq city of Basra killed three members of a family
and wounded three more, a teenaged survivor said. The attack in the Al-Qibla
neighbourhood of the southern oil hub flattened the family home, Ayad Jailan
said. The 16-year-old said that
his father, Awad Jailan, his mother and a brother were all killed and two
sisters and another brother were wounded. "I went out just before
six o'clock to buy goods from the shop. When I was there I heard the air
strike. I rushed back home to find the house collapsed," Jailan said. "I started removing
rubble with my hands to reach my family," he said, adding that emergency
workers eventually recovered three siblings alive along with the bodies of
his parents and brother. The US military confirmed
its aircraft carried out a strike but said it had targeted "enemy
forces". "In support of the
Iraqi security forces, coalition forces directed aerial fire against enemy
forces on April 2 near Al-Qibla, killing one enemy and destroying a
house," a US military statement said. Al-Qibla is among a string
of Basra neighbourhoods controlled by the Mahdi Army militia of powerful
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The areas have been targeted
by Iraq's security forces in a crackdown since March 25 on what Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki has described as "lawless gunmen". The offensive against the
militias in the port city quickly sparked a wave of clashes in other Shi'ite
areas of the country in which at least 461 people were killed and more than
1,100 wounded. Meanwhile, Baghdad faced a
series of bombings. A parked car bomb targeting
a police patrol in western Baghdad killed at least one civilian and wounded
10 other people, including three officers, police said. A roadside bomb struck an
Iraqi army patrol elsewhere in the predominantly Sunni Yarmouk neighbourhood
in the capital, killing one soldier and wounding three others. In northern Iraq, a suicide
bomber attacked an Iraqi checkpoint west of Mosul, killing seven people,
including a woman and a five-year-old child, and wounding 12, according to
the Iraqi military. The US military confirmed
Wednesday night's attack but put the casualty toll at five dead and 19
wounded. Nobody claimed
responsibility for the attack. But Mosul, 360km north-west of Baghdad, is
believed to be the last major urban centre where al-Qaeda in Iraq maintains a
substantial presence. External link: http://news.theage.com.au/strike-kills-family-trio-in-iraq/20080403-23gz.html US Military: Strike Kills
Iraqi Militant By Sinan Salaheddin Associated Press April 3, 2008 Baghdad - A U.S. airstrike
destroyed a house in the southern city of Basra, killing a militant, the U.S.
military said Thursday, and Iraqi witnesses and hospital officials said at
least three civilians were among the dead. A series of bombings also
struck Baghdad on Thursday. A parked car bomb targeting
a police patrol in western Baghdad killed at least one civilian and wounded
10 other people, including three officers, police said. A roadside bomb struck an
Iraqi army patrol elsewhere in the predominantly Sunni Yarmouk neighborhood
in the capital, killing one soldier and wounding three others. In northern Iraq, a suicide
bomber attacked an Iraqi checkpoint west of Mosul late Wednesday, killing
seven people, including a woman and a 5-year-old child, and wounding 12,
according to the Iraqi military. The U.S. military confirmed
the Wednesday night attack but put the casualty toll at five dead and 19
wounded. Nobody claimed
responsibility for the attack. But Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, is
believed to be the last major urban center where al-Qaida in Iraq maintains a
substantial presence. The Wednesday evening
airstrike came as the Iraqi government apparently shifts gears to slowly
squeeze the gunmen instead of a full-scale assault as it maneuvers for
control of Basra _ the country's oil capital and a major commercial center of
2 million people. The U.S.-led coalition
directed "aerial fires" against enemy forces fighting Iraqi troops
Wednesday near the militia stronghold of Qibla in Basra, said Lt. David
Russell, a military spokesman. The military later confirmed
an American plane conducted the attack, saying one militant was killed but it
had no reports of civilian casualties. Associated Press Television
News showed cranes and rescue workers searching for survivors in the concrete
rubble from the two-story house that was leveled. Witnesses said three people
were killed and three others believed to be buried in the rubble, apparently
leading to confusion over the number of casualties. "While we were
preparing for evening prayer, U.S. aircraft bombed this house, we rushed to
save survivals but in vain," a neighbor identified only as Haj Juwad
told APTN. "The father, mother and a young boy were killed and three
others were buried under rubble. We evacuated two people and one is still
under the rubble." Hospital officials said
three bodies had been received, including two men and an elderly woman, and
two women were wounded in the strike. The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. The Qibla district where the
attack occurred is a Shiite militia stronghold that has seen some of the
fiercest fighting in the offensive that began March 25. The airstrike underscored
the continuing tensions four days after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
ordered his Mahdi Army militia fighters to stand down after days of
widespread clashes that killed hundreds of people. Despite an end to heavy
fighting, the Interior Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, has
said security operations were continuing and that an April 8 deadline for
gunmen to surrender their weapons remains in effect. British military spokesman
Maj. Tom Holloway said a number of airstrikes had been conducted over the
last 24 hours in Basra to support the Iraqis in the fight. "We remain committed to
supporting the government of Iraq ... and action will be taken against those
who attack the Iraqis and coalition forces," he said. In the wake of the fighting,
Britain has suspended plans to withdraw 1,500 soldiers from southern Iraq. The violence exploded March
25 when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched a major operation to wrest
control of Basra from the militias, which had effectively ruled the city
since 2005. U.S. and Iraqi officials
have maintained that the crackdown was directed at criminals and renegade
militiamen but not the Sadrist political movement, which holds 30 of the 275
seats in the national parliament and is a major political force. But the Sadrists believed
the operation was aimed at weakening their movement before provincial
elections this fall. The militia fighters mounted a fierce resistance,
prompting the Iraqis to call in U.S. jets and British tanks and artillery to
help in the battle. The failure to gain a quick
and decisive victory over the militias left al-Maliki politically battered,
raising doubts about Iraqi military capability just a week before top U.S.
commander Gen. David Petraeus briefs Congress about prospects for further
American troop cuts. Associated Press writer
Hamid Ahmed contributed to this report. © 2008 The Associated Press External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040300309.html |