Chicago Indymedia : http://chicago.indymedia.org/archive
Chicago Indymedia

News :: International Relations

US helicopter kills Iraqi civilians

A US military helicopter air assault has killed eight Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baiji, north of Baghdad.
A US military helicopter air assault has killed eight Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baiji, north of Baghdad.

Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi, Baiji's police chief, told Reuters news agency on Thursday that the attack targeted a car of shepherds who were in a farming area in the town late on Wednesday.

"This is a criminal act. It will make the relations between Iraqi citizens and the US forces tense. This will negatively affect security improvements," al-Qaisi said.

Police Major Ahmed Hussein said two boys aged eight and 11 were among the victims.

A doctor who asked not to be named said Baiji hospital received eight bodies after the incident, including a 60-year-old man.

Reuters photographs showed relatives of the dead standing beside their corpses covered by white sheets outside a mosque in Baiji, 180km north of Baghdad.

Lieutenant-Colonel Maura Gillen, a US military spokeswoman, said the military was following up the incident, in which "suspicious activity" had been noted and warnings to stop the car were ignored.

The incident comes at a sensitive time.

Senior government officials expressed outrage after reports this month that a US soldier had used a copy of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, for target practice. The soldier was disciplined and removed from Iraq.
 
 

Donate

Views

Account Login

Media Centers

 

This site made manifest by dadaIMC software