BAGHDAD, Oct. 5, 2007
U.S. Air Strikes In Iraq Kill At Least 25
U.S. Military Links Targets To Weapons Smuggling From Iran
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Medics care for an Iraqi man in al-Kindi hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007 after he was injured in an explosion. Three bombs exploded in the Ur, Kamsara and Zafaraniyah neighborhoods of Baghdad Thursday killing at least 6 people and injuring 25, police said. (AP Photo/Ali Abed)
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This 2005 family photo provided by attorney Mark S. Zaid shows Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn. Staff Sgt. Wuterich, a Marine Corps squad leader, was charged with murdering 12 people and ordering Marines under his command to kill others during an incident that left 24 civilians dead in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year, his attorney said. (CBS)
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U.S. soldiers from Alpha Company, 1/38 Infantry Regiment, patrol in central Baquba, early on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007, some 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)
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The car of the Polish ambassador to Iraq after being attacked in Oct. 3, 2007. (REUTERS)
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Polish Army Gen. Edward Pietrzyk visiting troops in 2004. (AP)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
The troops were targeting the commander of a rogue militia group believed to be associated with the Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the U.S. military said.
Gunmen opened fire on the soldiers with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and at least one man was carrying what appeared to be an anti-aircraft weapon, the military said. Ground forces called for air support when the fighters kept coming toward them and the military said 25 militants were killed and two buildings destroyed in air strikes.
The military said the targeted commander was responsible for moving weapons from Iran into Baghdad.
The military also reported the death of a U.S. soldier, killed by small arms fire during operations Thursday in a southern section of the Iraqi capital. The section of the city is used by al Qaeda cells as a support zone, the military said.
In the pre-dawn raid Friday, U.S. aircraft repeatedly bombed the neighborhood in Khalis, a Shiite enclave about 50 miles north of Baghdad, according to an Iraqi army official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. At least 24 were killed, 28 were injured, most of whom were in critical condition, and several others were missing, he said.
He said civilians were killed when they rushed out to help those hurt in the initial bombing.
The U.S. military said it had no reports that any Iraqi civilians were killed as a result of the Friday operation.
"Coalition forces only engage hostile threats and take every precaution to protect innocent civilians," the military said in a separate statement.
The town's mayor said U.S. forces targeted areas built up by locals to protect their Shiite neighborhood against attacks by al Qaeda gunmen.
"These places came under attack by American air strikes," said Khalis Mayor Odai al-Khadran.
Since launching a Baghdad security crackdown more than seven months ago, U.S. troops have increasingly engaged rouge Shiite militiamen and splinter groups from the country's most powerful Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army. The U.S. military describes the splinter factions as "extremist" or "criminal" militiamen.
"We continue to support the government of Iraq in welcoming the commitment by Muqtada al-Sadr to stop attacks and we will continue to show restraint in dealing with those who honor his pledge," Maj. Anton Alston, a U.S. military spokesman, said Friday. "We will not show the same restraint against those criminals who dishonor this pledge by attacking security forces and Iraqi citizens."
The Mahdi Army is nominally loyal to al-Sadr, the radical cleric, who in August ordered a temporary freeze on his followers' activities - including attacks on U.S. troops.
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Last month, the U.S. military arrested a man suspected of being a ranking officer of Iran's Quds Force, the paramilitary branch of the Islamic regime's Revolutionary Guards, which has been accused of arming Shiite militants in Iraq. Iran denies the charges. The arrest has added to the already strained relations between Washington and Tehran.We continue to support the government of Iraq in welcoming the commitment by Muqtada al-Sadr to stop attacks and we will continue to show restraint in dealing with those who honor his pledge.
Maj. Anton Alston, U.S. Military spokesmanThe arrested Quds officer, Mahmudi Farhadi, was posing as a businessman with an Iranian trade delegation at the time of his arrest in a U.S. raid at a Sulaimaniyah hotel, the military has said.
In January, five other Iranians accused of being members of the Quds Force were arrested in a U.S. military raid in Irbil. They remain in U.S. detention. Iran says the men were in Iraq on official business.
In other developments:
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- All the little men talking about killing people they don''t even know...I wonder if Karma will give them a good kick in the arse...the kind of death they wish for others...and a moment of clarity at the end.
- Reply to this comment
- Tell me im wrong. If is was not for China And russia these places would be but empty holes in the dirt.
- Reply to this comment
- "You pathetic fool. War is your only answer. yes, lets just murder all the Iraqis and Iranians and take the f***ing Oil. Is that your answer?:
Yep thats about it. No need to say anymore. Its whats its is all about. To think anything else would be foolish - Reply to this comment
- If you go to antiwar.com, you can get to the story below in which it is pretty obvious that these are civilians...civilians murdered and maimed the US attack. I knew Khalis had a system to protect itself from attackers--it was, if memory serves, at CBS.com within the last few weeks when the Washington Regime was peddling success in getting Iraqis to fight al Qaeda.
They knew what was going to happen if armed men were spotted approaching the town at night--US intelligence had to have known! They aren''t THAT freakin'' stupid...this was cold-blooded murder perpetrated by US forces in Iraq and the people who ordered this raid are the ones responsible. Soldiers, you were set up! Your leaders wanted this attrocity to happen! Every attack like this and by the murdering dogs at Blackwater cause support for the central government to evaporate.
This is a town they could have surrounded in daylight and come in with government troops, preventing their ''suspect''...the fictive ''rogue leader'' from escaping...if there were even a grain of truth to their cover story.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/world/middleeast/06iraq.html?ex=1349323200&en=8324b6fe6c6644e9&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss - Reply to this comment
- nexgen:
You pathetic fool. War is your only answer. yes, lets just murder all the Iraqis and Iranians and take the f***ing Oil. Is that your answer?
You, Cheney, Bush and Blackwater are all so much like the terrorists. You view the world in terms of revenge, hate, fear, endless war, exploitation... - Reply to this comment
- That story was so lame. A fully loaded strike aircraft only hit 25? That%u2019s not worth the gas. Iran they should be told on public TV that unless this stops their in a heap of dodo. Either put up or shut up. This has been going on way to long and has to stop. Come on US just take everybody out of Bagdad and put them around the oil fields. That%u2019s what we want. Why should we care about a bunch of sand ni_gs? Lets be real we don%u2019t. Why do you think we do not deploy to other areas? No oil what%u2019s the point. To stay in the club you have to have something to offer. Dafar sp nothing to offer 2 million + dead. What happens when you feed them you get more to feed. Nature at work.
- Reply to this comment
- "Good beginning. Good job! The only way to deal with terrorists is to weed them out!"
- Posted by dumbshun at 12:40 AM : Oct 06, 2007
A "good beginning" after four years ?
That kind of "progress" gets you canned in the private sector.
This "war" (police action) will last a thousand years, because the terrorists breed faster than they can be weeded out.
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 03:57 AM : Oct 06, 2007
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If the left winger crowd like you did not continue to inject political correctness into the war equation, maybe we would have been out of there by now. But since we were not allowed to kill Muqtada Al-Sadr after Falugha he was able to build up his Mehdi army and cause all this grief. But hey the left are terrorists sympathizers so where stuck between a rock and a hard place. - Reply to this comment
- "Good beginning. Good job! The only way to deal with terrorists is to weed them out!"
- Posted by dumbshun at 12:40 AM : Oct 06, 2007
A "good beginning" after four years ?
That kind of "progress" gets you canned in the private sector.
This "war" (police action) will last a thousand years, because the terrorists breed faster than they can be weeded out. - Reply to this comment
- "Every one of these far left liberals have missed the point of the article. Iran IS supplying arms to the insurgents. You know, the folks killing our servicemen."
- Posted by speakinup at 09:17 AM : Oct 05, 2007
I had heard that it was just those old weapons Ronald Reagan gave Iran.
Not their modern gear. - Reply to this comment
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