AP: Report of U-S aircraft bombing houses in Baghdad

[Robbien]

BAGHDAD, Iraq The U-S military says it's looking into a report that U-S aircraft bombed houses near the west Baghdad office of a leading member of a key Sunni political bloc.

Police say four members of a family were killed and a guard at the house of a former Shiite member of parliament was wounded. The ex-member of parliament abandoned her home after escaping an assassination attempt last year.

Meantime, a series of 16 explosions, apparently from large mortar rounds, rang out in central Baghdad before sunrise. No word on any casualties.

http://ww2.wpri.com/Global/story.asp?S=5877239

edit: Just found Reuters report on this air attack

BAGHDAD, Jan 1 (Reuters) - U.S. forces said they were fired on from an office building belonging to a leading Sunni Arab politician during a raid on a suspected al Qaeda safehouse in Baghdad on Monday in which six insurgents were killed.

Saleh al-Mutlaq, an outspoken member of parliament whose Iraqi National Dialogue group is part of the U.S.-backed political process, said U.S. forces had targeted his office, killing two security guards and wounding two more.

Speaking to Reuters by telephone from outside Iraq, Mutlaq also said a family of four, including two children, were killed in an adjacent building during the raid on Monday.

He said the raid was a provocation and said the U.S.-backed government should be targeting Shi'ite militias blamed for operating death squads rather than his political party.

<snip>

Asked about reports of civilian casualties, a U.S. military spokesman said by email: "We are not aware of any civilians being injured or killed in this morning's raid. Coalition Forces returned fire against armed terrorists only. The terrorists killed were armed males firing at Coalition Forces."

Mutlaq's group is one of several Sunni Arab parties in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national unity government, which also includes majority Shi'ites and ethnic Kurds.

Mutlaq has warned brutal U.S. tactics are radicalising Sunni Arabs and swelling the ranks of al Qaeda and has urged Maliki's government to focus on cracking down on Shi'ite militias blamed by Washington and Sunni Arabs for operating death squads.

"I don't know why they are targeting us and not the militias. We don't have militias, we are the only front that doesn't have a militia," Mutlaq said. "They want to involve us in a war and to stop the political process."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR142230.htm

[Robbien]

1. The US is now trying to deny they bombed, trying to say ground forces attacked

The U.S. military said ground forces raided the buildings, acting on intelligence reports that the location was used as a possible safe house for al-Qaida in Iraq. Six people were killed and one suspect was detained, the military said.

But police described the incident as an airstrike that killed four members of a family and wounded a guard outside al-Khafaji's house.

Associated Press Television News footage showed masses of rubble in the area and what appeared to be a long smear of blood where a body had been dragged across the floor of one of the buildings.

Walls in the buildings were pitted with what looked to be the impact of bullets and shrapnel.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/01/africa/ME_GEN_Iraq_Raid.php

[LynnTheDem]

3. The US also denied the massacre of civilians at Haditha.

It didn't happen; it did but they were all "armed terrorists"; there was no cover-up...

And US soldiers are now on trial for the massacre of Haditha civilians and cover-up of same.

The US military says a lot of things, most of which turn out to be bullshit. They don't lie as often as bush. But it's a close thing.

[maddezmom]

2. U.S. kills 6 in raid; Sunni lawmaker disputes account

Story Highlights• U.S. says intelligence said target was al Qaeda safehouse
• Sunni lawmaker says his office was attacked based on false intelligence
• Shiite-led government wants him silenced, Sunni says
• Lawmaker says guards, neighbor family killed
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military said it raided an al Qaeda safehouse in Iraq on Monday, killing six terrorists and capturing a seventh.

A Sunni lawmaker disputed the account, however, saying the raid was on his Baghdad office and that those killed included two of his guards and a family of four that lived next door.

Salih al-Mutlaq said the raid was based on false information from his enemies in an effort to "settle scores with me" because of his criticism of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government.

"The government and militias attached to it provided the U.S. military with misleading information to settle scores with me because I do not agree with their sectarian policies and the way the country is being run," he said.

According to the U.S. military, as coalition forces moved in on a building intelligence indicated was being used as a possible safe house for al Qaeda in Iraq, they came under heavy fire from the rooftops of several nearby buildings and returned fire, killing two terrorists.

One of those buildings was later identified as belonging to al-Mutlaq, chairman of the Iraqi National Dialogue Council, the military said.


more:http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/01/iraq.main/index.html?section=cnn_latest