 Iraqis inspecting the damage of US air strikes in western Iraq have accused the Americans attacking "indiscriminately", saying there were no guerrillas in the area.
| "Nope. Nope. Nobody there. See for yerself!" |
The US military said on Saturday (local time) that seven precision air strikes on the outskirts of the town of Karabilah killed 40 insurgents who had been stopping vehicles at gunpoint and threatening Iraqi civilians. "There were no mujahideen (fighters) or armed men in the area. The planes attacked indiscriminately," said one man, who did not give his name, as he inspected the rubble of a house.
| "It wuz just a buncha civilians stopping cars at gunpoint and threatenin' people!" |
Quite how many may have died, or their identities, remained unclear. Residents would not let a Reuters cameraman film two of the houses that were hit by the strikes. The military said there were no reports of civilian casualties after the US troops fired on large groups of insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and AK-47 assault rifles. "The target was more of a compound with scores of armed men. No women or children were observed the entire day," said a US military spokesman on Sunday (local time).
| "Well, they wudn't dressed up like wimmin and children, but that's what they wuz! [Snif!] An' all them poor puppies an' kittens an' fluffy bunnies an' baby ducks, too!" |
| Was someone getting married in the compound that day? |
He said troops would not be going to the site to sift through the rubble. Television footage did not reveal whether buildings damaged in the air strikes had been occupied by guerrillas or civilians during the attack. No bodies were visible in the footage. Residents said three people had already been buried.
| "Yeah! We buried poor ol' Grandmaw soon's we wuz sure she wuz dead!" |
Hamdi al-Alusi, chief of the nearby Qaim hospital, said three civilians from houses in the nearby district of Rumana were brought in wounded after the air strikes, including a 12-year-old boy who later died. The US military spokesman said Rumana was not targeted during or after the strikes. "These are children's clothes," said one man, picking up a shirt from the rubble left by the strikes.
| "An' these're ladies' underwear! I'd know 'em anywhere!" |
US troops have launched several offensives on areas near Karabilah in the rebellious Anbar province in a bid to weaken the Sunni Arab insurgency, which has killed more than 850 Iraqi security forces, officials and civilians since a new, Shiite-led government was formed in late April. Last year, Marines killed around 40 Iraqis in an air attack on a house in the western desert near the Syrian border. The US military said the house was a staging point for foreign fighters but survivors said a wedding party had been massacred. The US military says it always tries to avoid civilian casualties and has accused insurgents of using civilians as human shields. |