IRAQ: Violence in Baghdad kills five people

Record ID: 338970

  • Title: IRAQ: Violence in Baghdad kills five people
  • Date: 3rd May 2008
  • Summary: (BN08) SALHIYA DISTRICT, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 3, 2008) (REUTERS) U.S. HELICOPTER FLYING ABOVE HOUSES DAMAGED BY MORTAR ATTACK
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVABF74TEEITV6GOW35T47G4NAWX
  • Story Text: U.S. airstrike kills three people in Sadr City, Baghdad. In the Iraqi capital's Salhiya district two people are killed after mortar rounds hit a house.
    A U.S. airstrike on the sprawling Shi'ite slum of Sadr city in Baghdad killed three civilians and wounded seven others, said local residents on Saturday (May 3).
    Eyewitnesses said that U.S. warplanes attacked Sadr city late on Friday (May 2), damaging a number of houses and civilian vehicles.
    The U.S. forces were not immediately available for comment.
    U.S. forces said on Thursday (May 1) they killed 16 more fighters in gunfights, air strikes and tank battles beginning on Wednesday (April 30) afternoon and running through the night.
    Iraqi Health Ministry figures show April was the deadliest month for Iraqi civilians since last August, with 968 killed nationwide. It was the deadliest month for U.S. troops since September, with 49 reported killed.
    A health official in Baghdad said 11 dead and 72 wounded had been brought to Sadr City's two hospitals in the past 24 hours.
    Most of the violence has taken place in the Sadr City slum, where armed groups loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have been battling U.S. and Iraqi troops since late March.
    Some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in the past three days, with militiamen taking advantage of blinding dust storms that ground U.S.
    Apache attack helicopters to launch large-scale ambushes on U.S. and Iraqi positions.
    Elsewhere in Baghdad, police said that late on Friday at least two people were killed and seven others were wounded when mortar rounds struck a house in the Salhiya district of central Baghdad near the fortified green zone.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register