IRAQ: U.S. forces clash with gunmen in Iraq's Hilla and car bomb in Baghdad kills three, wounds 10

Record ID: 339840

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S. forces clash with gunmen in Iraq's Hilla and car bomb in Baghdad kills three, wounds 10
  • Date: 3rd April 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) HILLA, IRAQ (APRIL 3, 2008) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) CROWD AT SCENE OF ATTACK/ WRECKAGE OF POLICE VEHICLE MORE OF CROWD GATHERING AROUND WRECKAGE OF POLICE VEHICLE
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA5Z7GINKH14FZRM0G3Q44LNCS1
  • Story Text: U.S. forces called-in helicopter strikes during a clash with gunmen on Thursday (April 3) in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla, scene of fighting last week between security forces and Shi'ite militiamen.
    Police sources in the Shi'ite city said five people had been killed in the predawn operation, including four policemen. They said fighting broke out after U.S. troops wearing civilian clothes entered the al-Jamiya district in central Hilla.
    A resident from Hilla Abu Haider said that the U.S. forces targeted innocent civilians.

    "They were innocent people who worked on transporting wounded from a place that had been targeted by the U.S. led forces. At the time they took the wounded to hospital, the U.S.-led forces bombed the area, killing a number of our brothers, bodyguards in Babil health office, soldiers and policemen in Babil."
    Sattar al-Jeshaami, spokesman for the main hospital in Hilla, said six bodies had been brought in after the clash, including four policemen. Around 15 people had been wounded, half of them civilians, he said.
    The U.S. military said gunmen opened fire on U.S. troops who were on an operation to detain a so-called "special groups" member, the military's term for rogue elements in the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
    Lieutenant David Russell said ground forces were heading to the target area when they came under fire. One vehicle was destroyed, several buildings were damaged and three civilians were reported wounded, he said.
    Hilla was one of several southern cities where security forces fought battles with Mehdi Army militiamen last week. U.S. special forces were operated with Iraqi units in the city and called in air strikes last week.
    A parked car bomb detonated in western Baghdad on Thursday (April 3), killing three civilians and wounding ten others, police said.
    They said that a woman was among those killed in the blast that took place in Harthiya neighbourhood of western Baghdad.
    Iraq has been plagued by violence in the past few weeks. Iraq's worst fighting since the first half of last year ended on Sunday (March 30) after Sadr called his followers off the streets.
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