Iraq: US Attack in Fallujah Killed Only Civilians

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Children among US raid dead
From Fares Dlimi in Fallujah, Iraq
June 21, 2004
IRAQI police today said three children were among 26 civilians killed in a US air raid on the city of Fallujah and there was no trace of the Islamic militants US commanders claimed to have targeted.

"We have not found any trace of an armed group there," Captain Mohammed Abdul Karim said. "The raid targeted a poor neighbourhood in southern Fallujah and hit the house of a man named Jassem Mohammed Fayyad, killing several members of his family and his neighbours.

"Among the dead were three children, between eight and 12-years-old."

He put the death toll at 26, including eight people who had been buried almost immediately and 18 whose bodies had been taken to hospital. The US military acknowledged yesterday it knew of 19 people killed in the raid on the Jbail neighbourhood.

Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt said it was a "precision" strike on a "known" safehouse used by supporters of suspected al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"Coalition forces conducted a strike on a known Zarqawi network safehouse in southwest Fallujah," he said.

"This operation employed precision weapons to target and destroy the safehouse."

It was the first major US operation in Fallujah since commanders halted a month-long ground offensive in the insurgent bastion in April, amid some of the heaviest fighting since last year's US-led invasion of Iraq.

Under a truce brokered by local dignitaries, a new force of Iraqi army veterans took over security in the town.

But coalition officials last week expressed dissatisfaction with the progress being made by the Fallujah Brigade and refused to rule out a new incursion by US marines.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian fugitive, has been accused by coalition and Iraqi officials of being behind numerous atrocities, including last Thursday's suicide bomb in Baghdad which killed 35.

But Capt Abdul Karim said Iraqi forces patrolling Fallujah had "never seen any Arab or foreign fighters".

"Elements of the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps and the Fallujah Brigade who patrol with us can bear witness," he said.

Residents in the city of 300,000, 50km west of Baghdad, which has a reputation for closing ranks, also denied all knowledge of Zarqawi's group.

"We've only heard about Zarqawi's group on the Arab satellite channels," said Ala Jabbar.

"There are no foreigners in Fallujah, either civilians or militants," said Ali Mohammad Abed, who said he lived in the Jbail district.

Iraq has been hit by a wave of attacks in the build-up to being granted sovereignty from the US-led coalition on June 30.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9908070%255E1702,00.html

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) — A senior officer of the U.S.-backed Fallujah Brigade on Sunday disputed U.S. claims that an American airstrike had hit a safehouse of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's network.
The Health Ministry said at least 16 people were killed in the attack Saturday; witnesses put the number of dead at least 20, including women and children.

Col. Mohammed Awad said members of the Fallujah Brigade had investigated the site and "affirmed to us that the inhabitants of the houses were ordinary families including women, children and elders."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-06-20-iraq-airstrike_x.htm