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Iraqi officials say US air strike kills 10 in Baghdad
Baghdad (AFP) April 22, 2008 A US air strike Tuesday killed 10 people in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said, as the American military announced the deaths of five troops and a female suicide bomber slaughtered six Iraqis north of the capital. The US military initially denied there had been an air strike but later reported an "air weapons team engagement" in Sadr City, an east Baghdad Shiite bastion where militiamen are fighting street battles with Iraqi and US forces. Iraqi security officials said 10 people were killed and 17 hurt in the air strike, which they said took place around 7.00 pm (1600 GMT) in the embattled district's Al-Nasr neighbourhood. US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover confirmed the air strike. "The Hellfire missile struck a car being used to transport rockets and then the same air weapons team (AWT) used 30mm to destroy a rocket rail in an open field," Stover said, adding that his was a preliminary report. He gave no casualty figures. "According to the AWT crew being debriefed it was a precision strike -- there were no civilians around the engagement area," Stover said. The US military had earlier Tuesday announced it had killed five Shiite militiamen in Sadr City, bringing to around 345 the number of people killed since the fighting began late last month. The clashes began when the government ordered a crackdown on militiamen in the southern city of Basra, which triggered a wave of firefights across Shiite regions of Iraq, including Sadr City, the bastion of anti-American leader Moqtada al-Sadr. The military, meanwhile, announced that two US marines were killed and three wounded when a bomber slammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint near the western Iraqi city of Ramadi at around 7:30 am (0430 GMT) Tuesday. Two Iraqi policemen and 24 civilians were also wounded in the attack near Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, which was once the symbol of Sunni Arab insurgency against US forces. A third marine was killed and another wounded in a separate roadside bomb attack in Basra on Monday, the military said in a separate statement. This is the first US military loss in Basra since Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched the crackdown against Shiite militiamen there on March 25. US forces have been sent to Basra to support Iraqi troops after fierce clashes broke out in the port city following the crackdown. Another roadside bomb attack killed two US soldiers "during operations" and wounded another two, as well as three Iraqis in north-central Salaheddin province on Monday, the US military said. The latest deaths bring the US military's overall toll since the March 2003 invasion to 4,044, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org. A female suicide bomber meanwhile blew herself up near a police station in the restive Iraqi province of Diyala on Tuesday and killed five policemen and a security guard, officials told AFP. The bomber attacked the police station in the town of Jalawla, 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Baquba, the capital of Diyala, at around 6:45 pm (1545 GMT), a police officer from Baquba said. Doctor Youssef Atta from Jalawla hospital confirmed the attack. "We have received the bodies of six people, including five policeman and one security guard. Twelve wounded victims have also been admitted in the hospital." The wounded include two policemen and 10 civilians. The attack was the second by a woman in as many days in Diyala, one of the most dangerous regions of Iraq which is known to house Al-Qaeda strongholds.
related report Two marines were killed and three others wounded when a bomber slammed his explosives-laden car against a checkpoint near Ramadi at around 7:30 am (0430 GMT) on Tuesday, the military said. Two Iraqi policemen and 24 civilians were also wounded in the attack near Ramadi, the capital of Sunni Anbar province, which was once the symbol of Sunni Arab insurgency against the US forces. A marine was killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the oil hub of Basra on Monday, the military said in a separate statement. This is the first US military loss in Basra since Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown against Shiite militiamen there on March 25. US forces have been sent to Basra to support Iraqi troops after fierce clashes broke out in the port city following the crackdown. Basra and southern Iraq were under the overall command of British troops who late last year moved into one base near the city airport after handing over the province to Iraqi forces. The latest death brings the military's losses in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 4,044, according to an AFP count based on independent website www.icasualties.org. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Iraq: The first technology war of the 21st century
Military not meeting combat needs: Gates
Washington (AFP) April 21, 2008US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday launched a push for more unmanned drones, complaining that the military is "stuck in old ways" and not moving aggressively to meet battlefield needs. |
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