Baghdad Hospital Damaged In U.S. Missile Strike

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Forum Spin Doctor
Miami Herald
May 4, 2008 Dozens were hurt by a U.S. attack in an area plagued by violence between security forces and Shiite militias.
By Shashank Bengali, McClatchy News Service
BAGHDAD--A major hospital in Baghdad's Sadr City slum was damaged Saturday when an American military strike targeted a militia command center just a few yards away, the U.S. military said.
American troops also killed 14 people in separate incidents in and around Sadr City as bloody street battles continued to mark the U.S. effort to rid the area of suspected Shiite Muslim militants, military officials said.
The rocket strike near Sadr Hospital injured 30 people, shattered the windows of ambulances and sent doctors and hospital staff members fleeing the scene, hospital officials said.
That hospital and another major facility in Sadr City had already taken in 25 bodies between Friday afternoon and 10 a.m. Saturday, when the strike occurred, hospital officials said. None of the injuries was life threatening.
Civilian casualties
The U.S. military is facing growing criticism over what residents describe as mounting civilian casualties in Sadr City, a densely populated slum of 2.5 million people, which has seen heavy clashes over the past six weeks between U.S. and Iraqi forces and militiamen loyal to the hard-line Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr.
A senior Iranian official accused the U.S. military of attacking Iraqi civilians, telling the official Fars News Agency that Iran would pull out of talks with the United States on Iraqi security unless the attacks stop. The countries held three rounds of talks last year on Iraq and are due to meet again this year.
U.S. military officials have repeatedly said they try to avoid civilian casualties. They accuse Iran of arming and training Iraqi militias, a charge Tehran denies. American officials in Baghdad were reviewing the Iranian report but didn't comment on it.
Ongoing offensive
Since Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's Shiite-led government launched an offensive against Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in the southern port city of Basra in March, Shiite militants have targeted U.S. and Iraqi troops in the sprawling, maze-like slum in northeast Baghdad that is becoming increasingly deadly for American soldiers.
Sadr has called on his followers to end the American occupation of Iraq. American military officials say that militants are using houses in Sadr City as bases from which to fire on U.S. and Iraqi troops.
Special correspondent Jinan Hussein contributed to this report.
 
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