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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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May 23rd,
2008 - Iraq Police Chief Says U.S. Killed 7 Civilians News article by the Los Angeles
Times |
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Iraq Police
Chief Says U.S. Killed 7 Civilians The military’s account of the helicopter strike differs: It says it
killed five terrorists and a suspect, but also two children. By Alexandra Zavis and Saif Rasheed Los Angeles Times May 23, 2008 Baghdad - A local Iraqi
police chief Thursday accused the U.S. military of killing seven Iraqi
civilians, including at least one child, in a helicopter strike in northern
Iraq. The military said the adults
were members of a bombing network, but it added that two children were killed
in the clash. Wednesday's incident, the
latest in a series of strikes that have injured or killed civilians, could
raise tensions between U.S. troops and Sunni Arab tribesmen who have become
allies in the fight against militants loyal to the group Al Qaeda in Iraq. It came as U.S. officials
were seeking to soothe local anger over the actions of a soldier who used a
Koran for target practice. The abuse of Islam's holy book drew apologies this
week from senior military commanders and President Bush. The strike also came as a
television station linked to Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party
accused U.S. snipers of killing one of its cameramen during clashes Wednesday
in east Baghdad. The military said all those killed that day were militants. Col. Mudhir Qaisi, the
police chief in Baiji, an oil-refining town just north of where the
helicopter strike occurred, said he had been in constant contact with U.S.
forces Thursday. "We told the Americans
that we went through very hard times to create good relations between the
three sides - U.S. forces, civilians and local police - and incidents like
this one will definitely threaten these relations," Qaisi said. "We
will try to correct this mistake, but we can't bring the lives of people
back." Col. Jerry O'Hara, a
military spokesman, said the U.S.-led force in Iraq "sincerely regrets
the injury of any innocent civilians and condemns those terrorists who place
civilians recklessly in harm's way." Qaisi said the victims were
Sunni farmers traveling in a minivan in the Mizari region. A relative of the
dead, Fulaiyh Shimmari, gave a different account. He said the family had
gathered in the evening after receiving word that one of their members was about
to be released from U.S. custody. "We saw the U.S.
Humvees surrounding the houses of our family, and then U.S. choppers dropped
soldiers on the gathering of cars and people," Shimmari said by
telephone. "The guests and relatives panicked. Some of them fled on foot
like me to their houses and others took their cars and escaped." Shimmari said three of the
seven people in a vehicle targeted by the helicopter were killed, including a
child. Four people on foot were shot and killed as they fled, he said. The military said the
occupants of the vehicle had "exhibited hostile intent" and that
U.S. forces tried to detain them using nonlethal force, including firing
three warning shots, before engaging the vehicle. It did not specify in its
statement what method was used in the attack. According to the military
account, five terrorists died in the car along with two children, and a
suspect was killed in a nearby field. Detainees captured at the scene told
U.S. forces that those killed in the vehicle included the person they had
been targeting, the military said. Suicide attack Earlier in the day, the
military said, U.S. forces attempting to seize a weapons cache in the area
were attacked by two men, who hurled grenades at the troops and then blew
themselves up. Meanwhile, Afaq TV said U.S.
snipers killed cameraman Wisam Ali Udah as he walked home Wednesday in the
capital's Ubaidi neighborhood. Local police said Udah was one of at least 14
Iraqis killed that day in exchanges between U.S. forces and Shiite
militiamen. Residents said the victims
included a number of other civilians. But Lt. Col. Steven Stover, a military
spokesman, said all 14 were extremists, who were "positively identified
as either committing a violent act or posed a threat to commit a violent act
before each engagement." Times staff writer Raheem
Salman and special correspondents in Baghdad contributed to this report. External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-iraq23-2008may23,0,4117418.story |