Gold9472
06-01-2006, 08:47 AM
Reports of new massacres haunt US forces in Iraq
Pentagon probe contradicts marines' account of november incident in haditha
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=24876
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 01, 2006
US forces denied Wednesday a new accusation - from Iraqi officers - that American troops killed unarmed civilians in their home this month. Amid mounting public interest in the United States in an inquiry into a suspected massacre at Haditha, the allegations about the deaths of three people at Samarra are among many that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said this week were trying his patience with the US military's "excuses" over "mistakes."
The New York Times reported Wednesday that a US military investigation found evidence showing that the civilians killed in Haditha had gunshot wounds, contradicting Marines' claims they were victims of a roadside bomb.
In the new case, Iraqi Army and police officers and several people who said they were witnesses and relatives of the dead said US soldiers killed two women, aged 60 and 20, and a mentally handicapped man in their home on May 4 after insurgents fired on the troops.
Spokesmen for the 101st Airborne Division, which controls Samarra and Salahaddin province north of Baghdad, said soldiers from its 3rd Brigade Combat Team killed two unidentified men and a woman in a house who had "planned to attack the soldiers."
In an initial statement on May 5, the unit had said troops killed three people who had already fired on them from a roof.
A senior Iraqi police officer from the province's Joint Coordination Center (JCC), a unit that liaises between the US and Iraqi security forces, said: "There was shooting outside the house. Samarra police told us that American soldiers went inside and shot three people, including a mentally handicapped man.
"They were not armed and there were no gunmen in the house," said the unidentified officer.
On May 6, Army Colonel Fadhil Mohammad, assistant manager of the JCC, said in a statement: "Multinational forces raided the house of a citizen and killed three people and wounded two from one family at 7 p.m. on May 4." He described the dead as "martyrs," indicating that the authorities believed they were innocent.
In his family home in the Sikaak district of Samarra, 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, Zedan Khalaf Habib told a Reuters reporter that the soldiers killed his 60-year-old wife, Khairiyya Nisiyif Jassim, his son Khaled Zedan Khalaf, 40, who was mentally handicapped, and daughter Anaam Zedan Khalaf, 20.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
Habib, 66, said he was hit in the arm when soldiers fired from a doorway into a room where 15 people had taken refuge in his house after a gunfight broke out nearby. Another daughter said soldiers placed a rifle next to her brother's body and took photographs to suggest he had been armed when killed.
"I was sitting next to my house when clashes erupted between gunmen and US forces," said Habib, sitting in his home three weeks later. "I went indoors with my family to a safe room."
American soldiers then broke down the door, he said: "Four soldiers stood at the door of the room where we were hiding. There were 15 of us. They started firing. I was shot in the arm and then one of the soldiers dragged me out.
"The firing went on against my family," he added. "I was lying face down in another room and they dragged one of my relatives over me."
Habib said he woke from a fainting spell as someone called his name: "It was a policeman. He was crying. The room was full of blood. A few minutes later he showed me the bodies of my relatives.
In the Haditha massacre, US military officials are now saying the killings of up to 24 civilians, appear to have been an unprovoked attack by Marines, The New York Times said.
The report, citing an unidentified senior military official in Iraq, said the investigation in February and March led by Colonel Gregory Watt, a US Aarmy officer in Baghdad, uncovered death certificates showing the Iraqis were shot mostly in the head and chest.
The three-week probe was the first official investigation into the killings.
Watt's investigation also reviewed cash payments of $38,000 made within weeks of the shootings to families of victims, The New York Times said. - Reuters
Pentagon probe contradicts marines' account of november incident in haditha
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=24876
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 01, 2006
US forces denied Wednesday a new accusation - from Iraqi officers - that American troops killed unarmed civilians in their home this month. Amid mounting public interest in the United States in an inquiry into a suspected massacre at Haditha, the allegations about the deaths of three people at Samarra are among many that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said this week were trying his patience with the US military's "excuses" over "mistakes."
The New York Times reported Wednesday that a US military investigation found evidence showing that the civilians killed in Haditha had gunshot wounds, contradicting Marines' claims they were victims of a roadside bomb.
In the new case, Iraqi Army and police officers and several people who said they were witnesses and relatives of the dead said US soldiers killed two women, aged 60 and 20, and a mentally handicapped man in their home on May 4 after insurgents fired on the troops.
Spokesmen for the 101st Airborne Division, which controls Samarra and Salahaddin province north of Baghdad, said soldiers from its 3rd Brigade Combat Team killed two unidentified men and a woman in a house who had "planned to attack the soldiers."
In an initial statement on May 5, the unit had said troops killed three people who had already fired on them from a roof.
A senior Iraqi police officer from the province's Joint Coordination Center (JCC), a unit that liaises between the US and Iraqi security forces, said: "There was shooting outside the house. Samarra police told us that American soldiers went inside and shot three people, including a mentally handicapped man.
"They were not armed and there were no gunmen in the house," said the unidentified officer.
On May 6, Army Colonel Fadhil Mohammad, assistant manager of the JCC, said in a statement: "Multinational forces raided the house of a citizen and killed three people and wounded two from one family at 7 p.m. on May 4." He described the dead as "martyrs," indicating that the authorities believed they were innocent.
In his family home in the Sikaak district of Samarra, 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, Zedan Khalaf Habib told a Reuters reporter that the soldiers killed his 60-year-old wife, Khairiyya Nisiyif Jassim, his son Khaled Zedan Khalaf, 40, who was mentally handicapped, and daughter Anaam Zedan Khalaf, 20.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
Habib, 66, said he was hit in the arm when soldiers fired from a doorway into a room where 15 people had taken refuge in his house after a gunfight broke out nearby. Another daughter said soldiers placed a rifle next to her brother's body and took photographs to suggest he had been armed when killed.
"I was sitting next to my house when clashes erupted between gunmen and US forces," said Habib, sitting in his home three weeks later. "I went indoors with my family to a safe room."
American soldiers then broke down the door, he said: "Four soldiers stood at the door of the room where we were hiding. There were 15 of us. They started firing. I was shot in the arm and then one of the soldiers dragged me out.
"The firing went on against my family," he added. "I was lying face down in another room and they dragged one of my relatives over me."
Habib said he woke from a fainting spell as someone called his name: "It was a policeman. He was crying. The room was full of blood. A few minutes later he showed me the bodies of my relatives.
In the Haditha massacre, US military officials are now saying the killings of up to 24 civilians, appear to have been an unprovoked attack by Marines, The New York Times said.
The report, citing an unidentified senior military official in Iraq, said the investigation in February and March led by Colonel Gregory Watt, a US Aarmy officer in Baghdad, uncovered death certificates showing the Iraqis were shot mostly in the head and chest.
The three-week probe was the first official investigation into the killings.
Watt's investigation also reviewed cash payments of $38,000 made within weeks of the shootings to families of victims, The New York Times said. - Reuters