Sept. 27, 2004
U.S. Jets Strike Sadr City
5 Killed In Airstrikes; Car Bomb In Mosul Claims 4
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Local residents gather around a car damaged in an U.S. airstrike in Sadr City on Monday. (AP)
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U.S. soldiers inspect the scene where a dead body lies on the road, shortly after a rocket attack killed one person and injured eight in Karrada district of Baghdad. (AP)
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Haj Habib, carries the dead body of his grandson, who died in an U.S airstrike in Sadr City, Baghdad, on Sunday. (AP)
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The U.S. military said the strikes in Sadr City, a hotbed of insurgents loyal to renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, struck several "positively identified" militant hideouts.
Residents said explosions lit up the night sky for hours before dawn. Mangled vehicles, debris and shards of glass littered the streets.
Dr. Qassem Saddam of the Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City said five people were killed and 40 were wounded — including 15 women and nine children. At least two children wrapped in bloodstains bandages could be seen lying in hospital beds and one man suffered burns from head-to-toe.
Lt. Col. Jim Hutton said insurgents also fired three mortar rounds at a nearby U.S. Army base, but that the shells fell short and exploded in a civilian neighborhood. It was not immediately known if there any casualties.
"While maintaining security is a primary concern, we are also very concerned about minimizing collateral damage and putting the innocent
residents of eastern Baghdad at risk," Hutton said. "The enemy shows no concern for the Iraqi people."
In other developments:
civilian, the 1st Cavalry Division announced Monday.
In Mosul, insurgents set off a car bomb as a seven-vehicle Iraqi National Guard patrol was passing by, killing at least four guardsmen and wounding three others, police said.
Gunmen followed up the blast with a burst of automatic weapons fire before fleeing the scene, said Lt. Col. Saleh Jamer, the patrol's commander.
Police Capt. Mushtaq Abdul-Karim said the explosion killed at least four guardsmen and wounded three others and also hurt a civilian.
The National Guard is the centerpiece of U.S. plans to turn over security responsibilities after elections slated for January. Guardsmen and Iraqi police have been repeatedly targeted by insurgents who are trying to undermine the interim government and drive out the U.S.-led coalition.
The persistent violence, coupled with the coalition forces' lack of control in key parts of the country, have raised questions about the feasibility of holding elections by the Jan. 31 deadline.
"It's getting worse," Powell said on ABC. "They are determined to disrupt the election. They do not want the Iraqi people to vote for their own leaders in a free, democratic election."
Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. troops in the Middle East, warned that voting may not be possible in parts of Iraq where the violence is too intense.
The goal in Iraq is to have successful voting in the "vast majority of the country," said Abizaid, who leads the U.S. Central Command.
"We're going to have to fight our way all the way through elections," he said, "and there'll be a lot of violence between now and then."
Abizaid spoke of a major offensive before the election, with U.S. and Iraqi forces doing "whatever's necessary to bring areas in Iraq under Iraqi control."
Powell offered a road map to the coming offensive. He said the military likely will tackle the Sunni Triangle cities of Ramadi and Samarra before attempting to restore order in nearby Fallujah, which he called "the tough one."
©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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