IRAQ: At least 13 people killed and 69 wounded in U.S. airstrikes on Baghdad's Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City

Record ID: 339978

  • Title: IRAQ: At least 13 people killed and 69 wounded in U.S. airstrikes on Baghdad's Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City
  • Date: 21st October 2007
  • Summary: MATTRESSES SPLATTERED WITH BLOOD
  • Embargoed: 5th November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA9NZ0V2FHYILTIN7QNXJNK9K2I
  • Story Text: U.S. airstrikes in Baghdad's Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City kill 13, including two children, and wound 69.
    U.S. air strikes killed at least 13 people and wounded 69 early on Sunday (October 21), in the northeastern Baghdad district of Sadr city, a stronghold for Shi'ite militants, two police sources said.
    The U.S. military confirmed it had conducted early morning operations in Sadr City
    "targeting criminals believed to be responsible for the kidnapping of coalition soldiers in November 2006 and May 2007".
    The poor district is the main stronghold in Baghdad for the Mehdi Army, a Shi'ite militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and has witnessed frequent clashes between U.S. forces and militants.
    In the morgue of Imam Ali hospital in the district of Sadr city the bodies of two toddlers, one wearing a nappy, lay on blankets while doctors tended to wounded men and boys, Reuters television footage showed.
    In the house where one of the toddlers lived, a man who said he was an uncle pointed to bloodstained mattresses and blood-splattered pillows, choking back tears as he held up a photo showing one of the dead children.

    "A missile landed at the house in the morning and as we were inside, causing a swirl of dust and smoke and children started to scream," said a women from the slum.
    Three U.S. soldiers were kidnapped south of Baghdad on May 12. The body of one of the soldiers was found later that month but the other two are still classed as missing, captured.
    A U.S. army translator of Iraqi descent, was kidnapped on Oct. 23 last year when he went to visit relatives, including his Iraqi wife, in Baghdad.
    His family said he was taken by the members of the Mehdi Army.
    Two polices sources said the death toll from the U.S. strikes was 13, including women and children, and that 69 had been wounded. One of the sources said the U.S. raids came after a U.S. vehicle was targeted by a roadside bomb.
    One of the police sources said the air strikes left several houses, shops and cars ablaze.
    A health ministry source said 10 bodies and 42 wounded had been taken to Imam Ali hospital in Sadr city while another body and 25 wounded had been received at a second hospital there.
    The U.S. commander for Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, said in September that while security was getting better in some parts of Baghdad following a U.S. crackdown, areas such as Sadr City were likely to continue to see higher violence.
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