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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 8th,
2008 - At Least 3 Iraqis Killed, Possibly All Civilians, in US Raid |
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At Least 3 Iraqis Killed, Possibly
All Civilians, in US Raid North of Baghdad By Lauren Frayer Associated Press February 8, 2008 Baghdad - Three Iraqis were
killed, including a woman, and at least one child was wounded after American
soldiers stormed a tiny one-room house north of Baghdad and opened fire, U.S.
and Iraqi officials said Tuesday. It was the second time in as
many days that the U.S. military admitted involvement in the death of Iraqi
civilians. On Monday, the military said
it had accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians, including a child, in an air
strike targeting "al-Qaida in Iraq" south of Baghdad. The latest killings took
place north of the capital, and the military said its soldiers killed two men
in self-defence. It said it did not know who shot the woman or the child. In both cases, the U.S.
military acknowledged involvement only in response to news media inquiries. The latest incident took
place in the village of Adwar, 15 kilometres south of Tikrit. The
predominantly Sunni area is home to many former members of Saddam Hussein's
regime, and has been the frequent site of U.S. raids against Sunni militants. A couple and their teenage
son were killed, and their two young daughters were wounded in a U.S. raid
around 11 p.m. Monday, Iraqi police said. One of the girls died early
Tuesday, and the other was evacuated to a U.S. military hospital, police
said. The U.S. military confirmed
the raid in an e-mail to The Associated Press, saying its troops came under
small arms fire while entering the building, and that soldiers shot dead two
men inside. A woman was killed and one child was injured, but it was unclear
who shot them, the military said. It said the nighttime raid
was based on intelligence gleaned from an informant. A cousin of the victims,
Kareem Talea Hamad, 20, said he watched the killings from his house across
the street, and gave a different account of events than the American
military's version. Hamad said U.S. soldiers
opened the door to the small brick house and immediately opened fire, killing
its unarmed residents: father Ali Hamad Shihab, 55, his wife Naeimah Ali
Sulaiman, 40, and their son Diaa Ali, who was a member of a U.S.-backed
awakening council. Such neighbourhood watch
groups, composed mainly of Sunni fighters who have joined forces with the
U.S. against "al-Qaida in Iraq", have been targeted by other
militants because of their alliance with U.S. and Iraqi forces. Two daughters were wounded
and transported to hospitals, and one died Tuesday morning, Hamad said. An
Iraqi police officer, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, confirmed
Hamad's account. A surviving daughter, Nawal
Ali, 16, said she was inside the house at the time of the raid, and that an
Iraqi interpreter working for U.S. forces tried to stop the American soldiers
from killing her parents. The unidentified interpreter
rushed into the house after he heard gunshots, Ali said. "He shouted at
the Americans, saying 'What the heck are you are doing?"' she said. "Then he pushed them
away after they killed my family," Ali said. She credited the interpreter
for saving the lives of two of her younger siblings, Hamzah, 5, and Asmaa, 6. Witnesses who went to the
family's house early Tuesday saw three dead bodies, laid out in their
blood-soaked beds. Bullet casings littered the ground. Relatives and neighbours
gathered at the house to mourn the family, and loudspeakers at a nearby
mosque announced plans for a funeral. Later Tuesday, the U.S.
military issued a statement saying it "regrets the loss of an innocent
civilian and the wounding of a child," but claimed the U.S. soldiers
acted in self-defence. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber
detonated his explosives belt Tuesday near the convoy of sheik working with
U.S. forces in Taji, killing two of the men's followers, Iraqi police said.
Those killed were also awakening council members. Separately, the U.S.
military said it detained eight suspected al-Qaida supporters in northern
Iraq. One of the suspects is accused of selling artillery rounds and roadside
bombs, and another is believed to be responsible for financing and
co-ordinating attacks on Iraqis working with U.S. troops, the military said
in a statement. Iraqi police also arrested
five suspects accused of murder in Diwaniyah, 130 kilometres south of
Baghdad, an officer there said. External link: http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/DOD/iraq_II/adwar.htm |