U.S. troops kill civilians

US raids in Iraq generate questions, resentment

By Omar al-Ibadi

06/29/06 "Reuters" -- -- Issam Hamza and his son Ahmed were killed in their Baghdad home by U.S. troops who say the men ignored shouted orders during the arrest of an al Qaeda suspect. Relatives said they were simply panicked by the night-time raid.

Conflicting accounts of the shootings on May 14 illustrate the difficulties of investigating widespread accusations that U.S. troops kill civilians without just cause.

The case was brought to Reuters' attention by a neighbor who is an academic and critic of the U.S. occupation.

The family say they were woken by blasts, gathered in a hallway, and then noticed red laser dots on the walls from the U.S. soldiers' rifle sights as the raid got under way.

Hamza's daughter Sarah said the retired pharmacist's assistant stood up and walked to the hall door near his bedroom.

"Suddenly he shouted and returned to us holding his left side and fell to the ground," she said.

Sarah said her sisters were trying to staunch the bleeding when U.S. soldiers outside demanded a locked door to the house be opened. Her brother Ahmed moved to look for the keys.

"Once he reached the television table he was shot in the head from the window and fell to the ground," she said.

Her accusations come at a time when the U.S. military is already under the spotlight over the conduct of its troops.

Twelve U.S. soldiers have been charged with murder this month. Another was charged with voluntary manslaughter on Sunday. An investigation is under way into allegations that U.S. Marines massacred 24 civilians in Haditha last year.

The U.S. military said it arrested an al Qaeda militant at the Hamza house. It declined to identify him but the family said the third man in the house, who was arrested, was their cousin Maher Zahid, a generator repairman. They deny he is a militant.

RESENTMENT

"The suspected al Qaeda associate immediately surrendered but two other suspects were engaged and killed when they refused to comply with the troops' commands to exit the building," said spokesman Major William Willhoite, in an e-mail response to Reuters' questions, citing a report from the unit in the raid.

"One suspect was shot when he refused to obey instructions and tried to escape through a back door.

"A second suspect was shot when he began reaching into a drawer after continuing to disregard commands."

One thing is certain. The killings in the middle-class Mamoun neighborhood of west Baghdad, and the family's protestations of innocence, have fueled resentment as word of the deaths has spread to relatives, neighbors and friends.

After the shooting "the soldiers were drinking Pepsi and eating chocolates and laughing and talking near the garden near us," said Lina, another daughter.

"We rushed inside when the soldiers left the house. We thought we would find Ahmed and my father but we found blood all over the place instead."

She said the Americans took the bodies. The family collected the dead men from a hospital morgue two days later.

Willhoite said propaganda, 39 ski masks, ammunition vests, an AK-47 rifle and ammunition were found at the site.

Intelligence officials had confirmed the detainee was an associate of a senior terrorist in al Qaeda, he added.

The Hamza family dismissed all of that as untrue: "We didn't have any weapons, masks, guns, explosives or anything illegal," said Sarah. "My cousin Maher was like a brother to us.

"He is innocent and had nothing to do with insurgents."

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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