Posted on 01/09/2005 4:45:15 AM PST by cbkaty
Witnesses say 14 family members are killed; Military 'regrets the loss'
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - Five Iraqis were killed early Saturday when a U.S. warplane dropped a 500-pound bomb on the wrong house during an attack on insurgents in northern Iraq, the military said. People on the scene, however, said 14 people were killed.
The military said in a statement that an F-16 fighter plane mistakenly dropped the guided bomb on the house, in the village of Aitha, about 30 miles south of Mosul. "The intended target was another location nearby," the statement said. It said an investigation was under way and that "Multi-National Force Iraq deeply regrets the loss of possibly innocent lives."
A man identifying himself as the owner of the house told the Associated Press that the attack killed 14 people, all in the same family. An AP photographer also said 14 family members had been killed and six other people were wounded, including residents of nearby homes.
Insurgents killed at least five people Saturday in bomb and gunfire attacks around the country.
In Basra, in the south, gunmen tried to assassinate Majid Atamimi, a local government official and candidate for the national election, when he left the governor's office to head home. He escaped, but his four bodyguards were killed.
One Iraqi civilian was killed and 20 were wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in Mahaweel, south of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said. Reuters quoted the police as saying four civilians had been killed.
Four Iraqi government officials from the central Salahaddin province were kidnapped south of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Neal O'Brien, told Agence France-Presse.
Iraqi and U.S. government officials have warned that the car bombs, ambushes and attacks against Iraqi government officials and security forces, civilians and U.S. troops will intensify before the Jan. 30 elections for a national assembly.
Strike against insurgents On Saturday, the U.S. military said in a statement that it had dealt a blow to insurgents trying to disrupt the elections by capturing a third top commander of a militant group in Mosul linked to al-Qaida.
The statement said the commander, known as Abu Ahmed, had been captured Dec. 22, along with another top member whom it could not name for "security reasons."
Late last month, Iraqi government officials announced that another senior insurgent, Abu Marwan, had been detained Dec. 23.
The three men, the U.S. military said, belong to the Mosul branch of the group led by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The military said Abu Marwan and Abu Ahmed were in charge of some of the attacks around the city.
U.S. forces have been building their operations and forces this week in and around Mosul, which has been particularly violent in recent weeks.
Mosul is in Nineveh, one of the four provinces that U.S. officials have said are not secure enough for voting.
The other provinces are Anbar, Baghdad and Salahaddin, which includes Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown.
The spokesman for the Iraqi election commission, Fareed Ayar, said Saturday that there would be 5,220 polling centers on election day and that they would be everywhere in Iraq but Anbar province, where the Sunni-dominated towns of Ramadi and Fallujah are located.
Arrangements have not yet been made for polling centers in Anbar, he said.
On Saturday, an American delegation led by the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, R-Tenn., met with Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, during talks with Sunni leaders in Baghdad. Frist said the delegation had been assured that the Sunnis would be given a role in the new government no matter what the outcome.
Well, the sooner the Iraqis start to take control of the situation, the sooner they won't have to worry about stuff like this. It's a sad loss, but they need to get their act together.
You are the competition. {psst! they're irrelevant! Don't tell any libs...}
How to make friends and influence people. Unfortunately this is the sort of mistakes that happen in war. Al Qaeda should be overjoyed, it will help their recruitment efforts immensely.
Americans will have to apologize - insurgents get a pass......
This is war - not a maneuver or Sunday picnic. Read Unholy Alliance by David Horowitz, it gives you everything you need to know about the MSM & MSP, politics of the left and names the people and organizations that are working hand in hand with our enemies.
Ooops!
LOL, my first thought was "SO WHAT?" The Iraqi people have to step up and inform the Coalition where the bad guys are -- they know. Until they take more responsibility for getting rid of the terrorists, I don't have any sympathy.
None of those people knew what was going on next door, which was the real target? Puhleeze!
Another interrupted wedding?
Sadly so.
Does anyone the number of civilians killed in Kosovo/Serbia/Lewinsky cover-up? NATO's bombs always seem to miss their mark back then. Not that that matters to the current press.
Hmmm excellent recall..... I had not thought of that "alleged incident" in a while...Thanks for reminding me!"
A five hundred pound bomb---what house?
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