US Accused Of Killing Children
By Reuters
05/04/06 -- RAMADI, Iraq, May 4 (Reuters)
- Iraqi doctors and neighbours in the Sunni Arab city of
Ramadi accused U.S. troops of killing children in a missile
strike on Thursday but the military said no civilians, only
eight insurgents, were killed.
Local television footage showed the body of a boy lying in the
rubble of a house. Hospital and police officials gave death
tolls ranging from five to 13, with up to another 15 wounded.
Muhannad al-Fahadawi, a doctor at the main hospital, said two
girls and a boy aged 8 were among at least 11 people he believed
had been killed in the violence. A teenage girl was shown to
reporters being treated for wounds in the hospital.
The U.S. military said: "Coalition forces killed eight
insurgents when they responded to an insurgent attack in central
Ramadi... There were no Coalition or civilian casualties."
Describing the incident, a statement said: "Marines ... were
attacked multiple times with rocket-propelled grenades, medium
machinegun fire and small arms fire from a building ..."
"Coalition forces responded with small arms fire, heavy
machinegun fire, grenades and precision-guided munitions."
Disputes over the identities of those killed in U.S. attacks are
not uncommon. U.S. commanders say they go out of their way to
avoid civilian casualties and accuse rebels of intentionally
operating from crowded neighbourhoods. Many Iraqis say U.S.
forces do not take enough care to avoid killing civilians.
"The American troops struck a house with two missiles in
Maysaloon Street, then followed them with a third," said one man
at the scene, who declined to be named for fear of reprisal.
"They brought the house down on people's heads."
"Is this the democracy that Bush wants? This is terrorism," he
said, venting popular anger at U.S. President George W. Bush.
Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad and the capital of the
mainly Sunni Arab desert province of Anbar, has seen much rebel
activity over the past three years.
The U.S. military said American and Iraqi forces killed more
than 100 insurgents in Anbar last week. The provincial governor
survived a suicide car bomb attack on his motorcade by rebels in
central Ramadi on Tuesday that left 10 other people dead.
Copyright Reuters
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