A Plague on the Nation

U.S. Assault in Iraq Kills Nine Children, Six Women (Update1)
2007-10-11 21:51 (New York)


    (Adds UN comment on civilian deaths in fifth paragraph.)

By Michael Heath
    Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. forces mistakenly killed nine
children and six women during an operation targeting leaders of
al-Qaeda in Iraq north of Baghdad, the military said.
    Intelligence reports indicated senior members of al-Qaeda in
Iraq were meeting in the Lake Tharthar area and an air strike was
made on the ``time sensitive'' target late yesterday, killing
four insurgents, the military said in a statement.
      Soldiers tracked some of the insurgents who escaped the
attack to an area south of Lake Tharthar. U.S. ground forces
moved in and called in further air strikes after receiving small-
arms fire from a building. Nineteen suspected insurgents were
killed in total, the military said.
    ``We regret that civilians are hurt or killed while
coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism,'' Major Brad
Leighton, a military spokesman, said in the statement. ``These
terrorists chose to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and
children in danger by their actions and presence.''
    The United Nations Mission in Iraq yesterday expressed
concern about civilian deaths during air strikes by U.S.-led
forces. The UN said it ``recorded a number of incidents in which
88 civilians were reportedly killed during air strikes by Multi-
National Forces'' between March and May.

                      Aggressive Tactics

    Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki recently confronted the top
U.S. commander in Iraq, Army General David Petraeus, about overly
aggressive tactics that harm innocent civilians, Associated Press
reported yesterday, citing unidentified Iraqi officials.
    An Iraqi government investigation into a shooting in Baghdad
last month in which 17 people died found that employees of U.S.
private security contractor Blackwater USA fired on civilians
without being threatened, Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al-
Dabbagh told state television Oct. 6.
    Blackwater has repeatedly said its guards, who were
escorting a U.S. diplomatic convoy, fired in self-defense.
    U.S. troops secured the target area yesterday and determined
19 insurgents and 15 civilians were killed, according to the
military's statement. Two suspected insurgents, one woman and
three children were wounded in the assault. One suspected
insurgent was detained.
    The military said troops are ``reviewing information from
the scene as well as assessing the level of damage involved.''

--Editor: Johnson (ras)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Heath in Sydney at +61-2-9777-1202 or
mheath1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Tighe at +6-12-9777-8626 or
ptighe@bloomberg.net.

[TAGINFO]

NI IRAQ
NI US
NI UK
NI WAR
NI GEN
NI DEF
NI GOV
NI MIDEAST
NI POL
NI TERROR
NI OILMARKET

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-0- Oct/12/2007 01:51 GMT