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US raid in Iraq kills 'civilians'
Al
Jazeera
Friday, October 05, 2007
At least 17 Iraqi civilians, including women and children,
have been killed in a US air raid, Iraqi officials and witnesses say.
US military officials have yet to respond to the claim, but issued a statement
that it had killed 25 Shia fighters in clashes near the city of Baquba,
in the same area as the alleged attack on the civilians.
US helicopters attacked the Shia village of al-Jaysani, close to the town
of Khalis, at about 2am local time (2300 GMT), witnesses said on Friday.
"Seventeen people were killed, 27 were wounded and eight are missing
including women and children," an Iraqi defence ministry official,
said.
However, Ahmed Mohammed, a witness, said the death toll was higher.
"There are 24 bodies on the ground in the village and 25 others wounded
in Al-Khalis hospital," he said.
Houses destroyed
At least four houses in the village, which lies 80km north
of Baghdad, were destroyed in the US air raid, witnesses said.
An Iraqi army official who spoke on condition of anonymity said civilians
were killed when they rushed out to help those hurt in the initial bombing.
Oday al-Khadran, Khalis' mayor, said the US military targeted areas built
up by local people to protect their neighbourhood against attacks by al-Qaeda
fighters.
"These places came under attack by American air strikes," he
said.
US statement
The US military could not be reached for comment on allegations that it
had killed civilians during combat operations, but a US military statement
said 25 fighters had been killed near Baquba.
The statement said US forces came under fire from opposition fighters
who were then killed in an ensuing gun battle, adding that two houses
were destroyed in the fighting.
The target of the operation was a "commander believed to be associated
with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Quds Force", the
statement said.
The statement said that one of the oppostion fighters was carrying what
appeared to be an anti-aircraft weapon.
The US military said at the weekend it had seized Iranian-made surface-to-air
missiles that were being used by opposition fighters in Iraq.
Heightened tension
Friday's incident comes amid heightened tension between the US and Iran
after US forces detained Mahmudi Farhadi, an Iranian national, in northern
Iraq a fortnight ago.
Farhadi’s detention led Tehran to close its border with the Kurdish
semi-autonomous region.
The US military says that Farhadi is an officer in the covert operations
arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
The secret operations wing has been accused by American commanders of
supporting Shia fighters involved in Iraq's continuing sectarian conflict.
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