U.S. Raids Baghdad Slum; 26 Iraqis Die

[NNN0LHI]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=ILKAN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Jun 30, 12:41 PM EDT

U.S. Raids Baghdad Slum; 26 Iraqis Die

By HAMID AHMED
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) -- American soldiers rolled into Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City slum on Saturday in search of Iranian-linked militants and as many as 26 Iraqis were killed in what a U.S. officer described as "an intense firefight."

But residents, police and hospital officials said eight civilians were killed in their homes and angrily accused U.S. forces of firing blindly on the innocent. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the raids and demanded an explanation for the assault into a district where he has barred U.S. operations in the past.

Separately, two American solders were charged with the premeditated murder of three Iraqis, the U.S. military said Saturday. And in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles north of the capital, police said a suicide bomber blew himself up near a crowd of police recruits, killing at least 23 people and wounding 17. snip

The U.S. military said it conducted two pre-dawn raids in Sadr City, killing 26 "terrorists" who attacked U.S. troops with small arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs. But Iraqi officials said all the dead were civilians.

[shadowknows69]

1. They're weren't Al-Qaida

they were the citizens of the country we're occupying who are pissed about us entering their homes. Who here wouldn't resist?

[montanacowboy]

2. Did they have their "terrorist" uniforms on?

The people of Iraq should drag Maliki into the streets and barbeque him; he doth protest too much while he sells his people down the river - American Stooge