Posted on 08/10/2007 3:51:25 AM PDT by familyop
American jets and helicopters bombed Baghdad's largest Shiite slum on Wednesday, in a deadly strike targeting Iranian-backed militia, as thousands of pilgrims thronged the streets of the city.
The US military said 30 "terrorists" were killed in the overnight strike on Sadr City, but families complained that women and children were among the dead, and angry mourners gathered to bury simple wooden caskets.
Helicopters and war planes were called in as Iraqi and US ground troops arrested 12 members of a cell that American commanders believe brought weapons and explosives from Iran, and sent militants to Iran for training.
"During the course of the operation, the assault force and the overhead aerial support observed a vehicle and large group of armed men on foot attempting an assault on the ground forces," the military said.
"Responding appropriately to the threat of the organised terrorist force, close air support was called and engaged the terrorist vehicle and organised terrorist force, killing an estimated 30 terrorists," the statement added.
Families said 11 people were killed in the US strike in the teeming slum, a stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, including three children and four women. At least one house and a truck were heavily damaged.
The military said the main target of the raid acted as a proxy between the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force but it was unclear whether the individual was killed or captured during the campaign.
It said all those killed -- another two gunmen were shot dead on the ground -- or captured were thought to belong to a rogue militia cell known for bringing among other things, explosively formed penetrators or EFPs, from Iran.
EFPs fire a ball of molten metal capable of destroying heavily armoured vehicles, and have been responsible for hundreds of American deaths in Iraq.
The renewed US accusations of Iranian interference -- which are routinely denied by Tehran -- came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Tehran for talks on ways to improve security in the country.
Pressing the diplomatic agenda elsewhere on ending Iraq's vicious sectarian conflict, representatives of its neighbours and the global community, including the United States and arch-foe Iran, were also meeting in Damascus.
Hundreds of thousands of Shiites converged on the war-torn capital, marching through the streets under stringent security and punishing heat to commemorate the death of a revered imam on Thursday.
Iraq banned all vehicle traffic in the capital to guard against the vicious car bombings that routinely target Shiite crowds and have spread carnage at previous religious events, as security forces manned checkpoints.
Two years ago, Shiites marching in memory of Imam Musa Kadhim were gripped by panic after mortar shells were fired at the mosque housing his tomb, amid rumours of suicide bombers in a crowd crossing a bridge over the river Tigris.
At least 965 people -- many of them women and children -- were trampled to death in a stampede or drowned after jumping into the river, in the bloodiest tragedy of Iraq's sectarian conflict, one still raw in the minds of many.
Set to last three days, the curfew cloaked the sweltering streets of Baghdad in eery calm while men, women dressed from head to toe in black, and children walked past army armoured cars and police jeeps to Kadhim's tomb.
"Despite the security situation and the probable danger, this is a special occasion for us that we can't miss and one of the most important Shiite events," said Haidar Abdul Hussein, 33, from the neighbourhood of Karrada.
Some 85,000 Iraqi and US troops have deployed in Baghdad since February to flush out Sunni extremists and Shiite militias, but the number of civilians killed has remained high and rose last month to pre-surge levels.
Any major attack at this year's commemoration would be a further blow for Maliki's shrinking government, now boycotted by 17 ministers from a spectrum of Shiite, Sunni and non-sectarian parties.
Civilians are forbidden to carry weapons and Iraqi security forces tightly controlled the route that pilgrims will follow on foot to the imam's mausoleum in the Kadhimiyah district.
Musa Kadhim was the seventh of the 12 Shiite imams and died in Baghdad in 799 after he was poisoned in prison. Every year tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims mark his passing by visiting his tomb in Kadhimiyah.
US denies that air strike killed civilians
Scotsman, United Kingdom - Aug 8, 2007
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1245852007
At a baby milk factory!
It is a lie!!! Even if it were true... but we have learned the terror tactic of this lie all too well... but if it were true, it would be dead terrorist children and women... and the chain of generational violence would have been broken. Not another tear for these animals... not one!
LLS
I think it’s Aspirin Factory that’s up for wrongly targeted object of the day, isnt it?
Wait, what day is this? Friday. Yep, Aspirin Factory for Friday.
Baby Milk Factory was Tuesday and Wedding isn’t scheduled until Monday next.
You sure you’ve got the updated Wrongful Target Name list?
>>“but families complained that women and children were among the dead, and angry mourners gathered to bury simple wooden caskets.”<<
Prayers for the dead.
War is hell. Civilians die. Colateral damage happens.
Sad but true.
Spokesmen for Green Helmet Guy said he was enroute from Lebanon to direct the upcoming news segments.
I think that's probably more accurate.
I’m on vacation next week and I don’t want to get behind on my quota!
There wasn't any collateral damage. It was all Mahdi Army scum that was wiped out a couple of days ago. They're lying.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Yes, it was an aspirin factory, but there were hundreds and hundreds of kittens killed, too.
I will still pray for any children that were hurt or killed. And I’m not talking about 14 year old excuses for children that are terrorists themselves.
But to just flat out deny that children were killed, gives credit to these monsters. I would believe they killed children themselves to make a point.
And a child is innocent.
And if it’s not exactly true? Well, it could have been. So long as the narrative remains intact, what use are mere facts?
Assuming of course, that any children actually died. The only word saying so is that of the murder/death cultists themselves.
Shiite happens.
Leni
No prayers for jihadists ever... no colateral damage... except to the truth! Kill as many terrorists as possible... regardless of their age, size, or gender!
LLS
Probably because the terrorists used them for cover......
No way.
A toddler is not a jihadist. A toddler is a toddler.
You have a right to feel the way you do, but I will continue to pray for the babies that were killed or mamed. And pray most of all that the Light of Christ finds their hearts.
All problems are solved by Him.
>>Probably because the terrorists used them for cover......
Exactly.
Very credible sources (I am not far from Sadr City) have told me that no women or children were killed during that raid.
That's all I've got.
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