Posted on 06/20/2006 8:52:06 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -
U.S.-led forces killed 15 terror suspects and detained three others during raids Tuesday in a village northeast of Baghdad, the military said. Residents said 13 civilians also were killed.
Elsewhere, a bombing killed four people in a Baghdad market and a suicide bomber blew himself up in a home for the elderly in the southern city of Basra, killing two.
The military said the raid targeted individuals linked with a suspected senior al-Qaida in Iraq member, but it did not identify him.
Troops came under fire from a roof upon arriving at the site in the village of Bushahin north of Baqouba - the same area where al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7 in an airstrike.
"The ground force returned fire, killing nine armed terrorists on the rooftop," the U.S. military said in a statement. It said five militants were killed by coalition aircraft after they were spotted firing on the forces and one was killed by a coalition sniper as he shot at the troops from a nearby roof.
Residents in the village of Bushahin where the raids were carried out said 13 civilians also were killed. A local security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution, confirmed the civilian deaths, saying a 12-year-old boy was among them.
AP Television News footage showed blood splattered on the ground and mattresses and spent bullet casings inside a poultry farm, where residents said the civilians were killed. Several bodies had been covered with blankets and packed into the backs of two pickup trucks.
Coalition forces found 10 AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun, a pistol and a crate of explosives at the site, the military said.
A coalition aircraft providing cover to the forces hit utility wires during the fighting but was able to make a controlled landing. Nobody was injured and the ground forces immediately secured the site, according to the statement.
The detained suspects had fled but were found hiding amid nine women, the military said. It said one of the suspects was wounded, but the women were not injured.
The Baghdad minivan bombing occurred as people were shopping in the market in the Shiite district of Sadr City. Police Col. Hassan Chalob said four civilians were killed and 16 were wounded.
The area has been targeted by attackers in the past. Bombs exploded in two markets there on March 12, killing at least 44 people.
The motive of the attack on the elderly home was unclear and an investigation was under way, police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaida said. Two people were killed and three wounded.
Tensions have been worsening in the Shiite-dominated area of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, which is about 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. Britain has about 8,000 soldiers in the city.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a state of emergency there late last month, but it has failed to quell the rampant violence as rival Shiite militias fight each other for power.
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What happened to the sectarian violence?
First I have seen this in an AP Report!
a suicide bomber blew himself up in a home for the elderly in the southern city of BasraHow cowardly.
Now we have this also?? Makes no sense....just psycho killings....
Onward....soldiers...
The real reason we were there....maybe Zarqawi's replacement....
Ssssssssick Em!!!!!
How exactly does blowing up musliim oldsters fall under jihad?
Turn these vermin surgically into women as an example and then release them.
Anyone who buys into this whole suicide bombing thing is psycho by definition. Madmen (and women sometimes) without any conscience whatsoever.
The remnants of Genghis Khan....
It gets on the nerves of soft Americans
Then I remember the kids at Beslan ...
How can any God-fearing, self-respecting Moslem live there and not be fed up already with this crap?
Coalition Kills 15 Terrorists, Detains 3, Captures Senior Leader
Still no name for the Senior Leader....
They are very fed up with it and have been for some time. They hate the terrorists as much as we do. I've seen them get tears in their eyes when they tell me about things like a homicide bomber killing a mother holding her baby at a bus stop a few months ago. Or about the four schoolchildren from the same family who were killed in April by a car bomber while they were walking to school.
The Iraqis have been ratting out terrorists for quite some time, (and risking their own lives to do it) but the media doesn't talk about things like that.
That halfwit, Dennis Kusinich, complained on Fox yesterday that the Iraqis were justifiably upset with the US since they had better electric service....and everything else (life was good)...under Saddam. We should cut and run now. Go to the UN and get more nations involved in Iraq.
I saw that. The country is truly lucky that the majority of dumb ass voters are concentrated in certain districts such as Dennis', Conyers, McDimmie, and Marxine. Spreading them out would be like a massive epidemic of stupidity.
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