'Error' triggers US raid: 2 children among 9 dead

Compiled by Daily Star staff

12/13/06 "Daily Star" -- -- Two Iraqi children were among nine people killed on Monday in a US raid near a city northeast of Baghdad, while Al-Qaeda in Iraq appointed a little-known militant to succeed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi On another front, the US military said Zarqawi died of serious damage to the lungs caused by shockwaves from a US air strike on his hideout last week, according to autopsy results.

The US military confirmed the civilian deaths and said that seven suspected terrorist were also killed during the raid near the city of Baqouba. It said that three insurgents were wounded and two others detained.

The military said coalition forces received enemy machine-gun fire from a rooftop after arriving at the objective and two people with AK-47s had been seen fleeing the area just prior to the assault.

"Coalition aircraft supporting the ground force immediately suppressed the enemy fire, killing seven," the military said in a statement. It said there were numerous women and children on the scene. "Following the assault, coalition troops discovered two children had been killed. One child was wounded and evacuated for treatment."

Local residents accused the Americans of targeting civilians and a man wearing a white dishdasha held up the charred body of a toddler whose head had been blown in half.

Mohammad Abbas, a relative of the victims, said the raid was triggered by an error on the part of a local guard in the village of Hashmiyyat, west of Baqouba, where the raid was carried out.

"We were sleeping on the rooftop at midnight when a local guard fired in the air as he saw individuals whom he thought were insurgents ... unfortunately they turned out to be US troops on foot patrol," he said.

"The US forces responded fiercely and struck several houses first and later concentrated on one house. We later discovered that nine members of the house, including seven children and youngsters, were killed while four members are missing."

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