Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
By Faris al-Mehdawi
BAQUBA, Iraq, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Witnesses and the Iraqi police said
U.S. troops opened fire on a crowded minibus north of Baghdad on Monday,
killing five members of the same family, including two children, and
wounding four others.
The U.S. military said it was looking into the incident but did not
confirm its involvement or provide any other details.
One of the survivors told Reuters the family was travelling from
Balad, a town about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, to the nearby city of
Baquba for a funeral when they were shot at by a U.S. patrol as it
approached them on the road.
"As we tried to move over to one side to let them pass, they opened
fire," one of the survivors said. None of them would provide their names but
said the family was headed by a Mohammed Kamel.
They said the incident occurred at around 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) just
outside Baquba.
Major Hussein Ali of the Iraqi police said the minivan the family
was travelling in was taken away by U.S. forces shortly afterwards.
Police and the surviving family members said five people were
killed, including two young children. Reuters television footage showed the
dead children in a morgue in Baquba and relatives kissing another dead body
on a morgue trolley.
"They are all children. They are not terrorists," shouted one
relative. "Look at the children," he said as a morgue official carried a
small dead child into a refrigeration room.
"We felt bullets hitting the car from behind and from in front,"
said another survivor with blood running from a wound to his head and
splattered on his shirt. "Heads were blown off. One child had his hand shot
off," he said.
Of those wounded, two were women and one was another child, the
survivors said.
U.S. troops are frequently accused by Iraqis of shooting at civilian
vehicles at checkpoints and roadblocks. At the same time, U.S. troops are
attacked every day by car bombers in civilian vehicles who race at U.S.
patrols or roadblocks.
The U.S. military says it does everything it can to ensure it does
not fire on civilians, although it has also admitted in the past to
accidentally killing civilians at roadblocks.
To avoid the possibility of being fired on, most Iraqis pull over to
the side of the road when U.S. convoys approach.
The convoys generally travel with signs in Arabic telling people to
stay back or away and warning them that deadly force will be used if they
get too close.
BAQUBA, Iraq, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Witnesses and the Iraqi police said
U.S. troops opened fire on a crowded minibus north of Baghdad on Monday,
killing five members of the same family, including two children, and
wounding four others.
The U.S. military said it was looking into the incident but did not
confirm its involvement or provide any other details.
One of the survivors told Reuters the family was travelling from
Balad, a town about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, to the nearby city of
Baquba for a funeral when they were shot at by a U.S. patrol as it
approached them on the road.
"As we tried to move over to one side to let them pass, they opened
fire," one of the survivors said. None of them would provide their names but
said the family was headed by a Mohammed Kamel.
They said the incident occurred at around 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) just
outside Baquba.
Major Hussein Ali of the Iraqi police said the minivan the family
was travelling in was taken away by U.S. forces shortly afterwards.
Police and the surviving family members said five people were
killed, including two young children. Reuters television footage showed the
dead children in a morgue in Baquba and relatives kissing another dead body
on a morgue trolley.
"They are all children. They are not terrorists," shouted one
relative. "Look at the children," he said as a morgue official carried a
small dead child into a refrigeration room.
"We felt bullets hitting the car from behind and from in front,"
said another survivor with blood running from a wound to his head and
splattered on his shirt. "Heads were blown off. One child had his hand shot
off," he said.
Of those wounded, two were women and one was another child, the
survivors said.
U.S. troops are frequently accused by Iraqis of shooting at civilian
vehicles at checkpoints and roadblocks. At the same time, U.S. troops are
attacked every day by car bombers in civilian vehicles who race at U.S.
patrols or roadblocks.
The U.S. military says it does everything it can to ensure it does
not fire on civilians, although it has also admitted in the past to
accidentally killing civilians at roadblocks.
To avoid the possibility of being fired on, most Iraqis pull over to
the side of the road when U.S. convoys approach.
The convoys generally travel with signs in Arabic telling people to
stay back or away and warning them that deadly force will be used if they
get too close.
