OT:OT:OT:No MS:No Hurt USA:Bizarre
- From: "abdi" <abdi@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:39:41 GMT
Published on Monday, March 20, 2006 by Knight Ridder
Iraqi Police Report Details Civilians' Deaths at Hands of U.S. Troops
by Matthew Schofield
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing
11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the
aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of
Baghdad.
The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a
single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight
Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the
villagers' animals and blew up the house, the document said.
A U.S. military spokesman, Major Tim Keefe, said that the U.S.
military has no information to support the allegations and that he had not
heard of them before a reporter brought them to his attention Sunday.
"We're concerned to hear accusations like that, but it's also highly
unlikely that they're true," he said. He added that U.S. forces "take every
precaution to keep civilians out of harms' way. The loss of innocent life,
especially children, is regrettable."
Accusations that U.S. troops have killed civilians are commonplace in
Iraq, though most are judged later to be unfounded or exaggerated. Navy
investigators announced last week that they were looking into whether
Marines intentionally killed 15 Iraqi civilians - four of them women and
five of them children - during fighting last November.
But the report of the killings in the Abu Sifa area of Ishaqi, eight
miles north of the city of Balad, is unusual because it originated with
Iraqi police and because Iraqi police were willing to attach their names to
it.
The report, which also contained brief descriptions of other events in
the area, was compiled by the Joint Coordination Center in Tikrit, a
regional security center set up with United States military assistance. An
Iraqi police colonel signed the report, which was based on communications
from local police.
Brig. Gen. Issa al-Juboori, who heads the center, said that his office
assembled the report on Thursday and that it accurately reflects the
direction of the current police investigation into the incident.
He also said he knows the officer heading the investigation. "He's a
dedicated policeman, and a good cop," he said when reached by phone in
Tikrit from Baghdad. "I trust him."
The case involves a U.S. raid conducted, according to the official
U.S. account, in response to a tip that a member of al-Qaida in Iraq was at
the house.
Neighbors, interviewed by a special correspondent for Knight Ridder,
agreed that the al-Qaida member was at the house. They said he was visiting
the home's owner, a relative. The neighbors said the homeowner was a
schoolteacher.
According to police, military and eyewitness accounts, U.S. forces
approached the house at around 2:30 a.m. and a firefight ensued. By all
accounts, in addition to exchanging gunfire with someone inside the house,
U.S. troops were supported by helicopter gunships, which fired on the house.
But the accounts differ on what took place after the firefight.
According to the U.S. account, the house collapsed because of the
heavy fire. When U.S. forces searched the rubble they found one man, the
al-Qaida suspect, alive. He was arrested. They also found a dead man they
believed to be connected to al-Qaida, two dead women and a dead child.
But the report filed by the Joint Coordination Center, which was based
on a report filed by local police, said U.S. forces entered the house while
it was still standing.
"The American forces gathered the family members in one room and
executed 11 persons, including five children, four women and two men," the
report said. "Then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed
their animals."
The report identified the dead by name, giving their ages. The two men
killed were 22 and 28. Of the women, two were 22 years old, one was 30 and
one was 75. Two of the children were 5 years old, two were 3, and the fifth
was 6 months old, the document said.
The report was signed by Col. Fadhil Muhammed Khalaf, who was
described in the document as the assistant chief of the Joint Coordination
Center.
A local police commander, Lt. Col. Farooq Hussain, interviewed by a
Knight Ridder special correspondent in Ishaqi, said autopsies at the
hospital in Tikrit "revealed that all the victims had bullet shots in the
head and all bodies were handcuffed." Efforts to reach hospital spokesmen
Sunday were unsuccessful.
Keefe, the U.S. military spokesman, said that he had seen photographs
of the victims and had not seen handcuffs, which caused him to doubt the
validity of the report.
He said, however, that he has no reason to doubt the body count
provided by local police.
"We conducted a preliminary investigation," he said. "They were the
investigating officers on the ground."
Keefe said that he didn't know which U.S. unit conducted the raid. An
official account of the raid provided Sunday by the military also did not
mention the unit involved by name.
Ibraheem Hirat Khalaf, whose brother Faiz owned the house and was
among the dead, said he watched and heard the assault from his home 100
yards away. He said that U.S. troops used six missiles from helicopters to
destroy the house as they were leaving.
Abu Hijran, 38, and a neighbor, said those in the house were liked and
respected, though the wanted al-Qaida member was not as well known.
Rasheed Thair, an employee of Ishaqi, said that the town was in a
state of shock over the killings.
"Everyone attended the funeral," he said. "We want the Americans to
give an explanation for this horrible crime which took the smile and the
dream of a spring night from 11 people, and destroyed even the simple toys
of children."
Three Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondents contributed to
this report. Their identities are being withheld for security reasons.
---
POLICE REPORT
This is a translation of the Iraqi police report obtained by Knight
Ridder, including accounts of events not related to the Ishaqi raid.
In the name of God, the most merciful
This is the morning and afternoon events of 15/3/2006
1. Interior Ministry Operations:
All forces belonging to the Interior Ministry will go on 100 percent
alert status starting Wednesday 15/3/2006 until 1000 hours Friday 17/3/2006.
2. Coordination Center of Beji
At 810 gunmen in a white vehicle, duck type (a reference to the local
name for a Toyota model) kidnapped the child Mohamed (Badei Khaled) from
Samaha school in Beji (map coordinates 617667).
3. Coordination Center of Dujail
At 730 a benzene truck burned near Gassem al Queisy fuel station after
one of its tires caught fire. The incident burned the driver (Hamed
Abdalilah) and he was transported to the hospital (map coordinates 263519).
4. Coordination Center of Balad
At 230 of 15/3/2006, according to the telegram (report) of the Ishaqi
police directorate, American forces used helicopters to drop troops on the
house of Faiz Harat Khalaf situated in the Abu Sifa village of the Ishaqi
district. The American forces gathered the family members in one room and
executed 11 people, including 5 children, 4 women and 2 men, then they
bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals (map
coordinates 098702).
They were:
Turkiya Muhammed Ali, 75 years
Faiza Harat Khalaf, 30 years
Faiz Harat Khalaf, 28 years
Um Ahmad, 23 years
Sumaya Abdulrazak, 22 years
Aziz Khalil Jarmoot, 22 years
Hawra Harat Khalaf, 5 years
Asma Yousef Maruf, 5 years
Osama Yousef Maruf, 3 years
Aisha Harat Khalaf, 3 years
Husam Harat Khalaf, 6 months
(Signed)
Staff Colonel
Fadhil Muhammed Khalaf
Assistant Chief of the Joint Coordination Center
3/16/2006
Three Knight Ridder special correspondents contributed to this report.
Their identities are being withheld for security reasons.
© 2006 KR Washington Bureau and wire service sources
###
--
Quaecomque sunt vera ----
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Shepherd Center?
- Next by Date: OT:OT:OT:NO MS:NO HURT USA:These guys are here too
- Previous by thread: OT:OT:OT:NO MS:NO HURT USA:Gt do you know these guys?
- Next by thread: OT:OT:OT:NO MS:NO HURT USA:These guys are here too
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
