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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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May 21st,
2008 - U.S. Shoots 11 in Iraq, Police Blame Snipers |
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U.S. Shoots 11
in Iraq, Police Blame Snipers By Ross Colvin & Janet Lawrence Reuters May 21, 2008 Baghdad - The U.S. military
said its troops shot dead 11 militants in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, but
police and several residents said at least some of the dead were civilians
killed by U.S. snipers. There were conflicting
accounts of the shootings in different parts of the Obaidi district close to
Sadr City, the main stronghold of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr where
Iraqi troops backed by tanks have launched an operation to take control of
the streets. The U.S. military said all
those killed were members of "special groups", military jargon for
rogue units of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia accused of receiving funding and
training from Iran. In the courtyard of one
house in Obaidi, a Mehdi Army bastion, black-robed women wailed over the
bloody corpse of a man half-covered by a blanket, while men beat their chests
in a sign of grief. "He was shot by an
American sniper. He was loitering outside the house. He was not even holding
a piece of wood," one of the male mourners told Reuters. An official at police
headquarters in eastern Baghdad said 11 bodies had been removed from Obaidi,
including three elderly men, two street cleaners and three Mehdi Army
fighters. He blamed U.S. snipers for
the killings. A number of residents and an
Interior Ministry official said the shootings were triggered by a roadside
bomb attack on a U.S. and Iraqi convoy, but the U.S. military said there had
been no such attack on its forces in the area. U.S. military spokesman
Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Stover said the 11 had been killed after they were
observed by U.S. soldiers acting suspiciously. He did not say whether sniper
teams had carried out the shootings. In one incident, troops
opened fire on a sports utility vehicle carrying four militants armed with
assault rifles, killing all the occupants, he said in a statement. Three
others were killed as they tried to plant roadside bombs. The U.S. military said the
operation in Obaidi sent a message to the "special groups" that it
has blamed for many of the deadly roadside bomb attacks on U.S. troops. "Operations such as
these let special group militants know the government of Iraq, Iraqi security
and coalition forces will not tolerate their illegal and violent
activities," said Major Joey Sullinger, spokesman for the 4th Brigade
Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. The Mehdi Army has largely
stuck to a truce agreed 11 days ago to end weeks of fighting with Iraqi and
U.S. troops in Sadr City, although it has been punctuated by skirmishes. The U.S. military says
special groups have not complied with the truce. © Thomson Reuters 2008. All
rights reserved. External link: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-33698020080521 |