BAGHDAD, 24 October 2007 — A US helicopter opened fire on a group of men as they were planting roadside bombs in a Sunni stronghold north of Baghdad, then chased them into a nearby house yesterday, killing 11 Iraqis, including at least six civilians, the military said.
The airstrikes came a day after Osama Bin Laden has scolded his Al-Qaeda followers in Iraq and other insurgents, saying they have “been lax” for failing to overcome fanatical tribal loyalties and unite in the fight against US troops.
The message of his new audiotape reflected the growing disarray among Iraq’s Sunni Arab insurgents and Bin Laden’s client group in the country, both of which are facing heavy US military pressure and an uprising among Sunni tribesmen.
The men were spotted placing the bombs by an Apache helicopter near the volatile northern city of Samarra, said Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a military spokeswoman in the area. The helicopter “engaged these enemy forces and the enemy forces ran into a house and took over the structure,” she said, adding the attack aircraft continued to fire at the suspected militants as they tried to escape.
Six civilians and five military aged men were killed and five people were wounded and evacuated to a hospital in nearby Tikrit, 130 kilometers north of Baghdad, she said, adding it was unclear how many of the men were in the group planting the roadside bombs. Iraqi police and witnesses said at least 14 people were killed, including four women and eight children.
A man from the area that was hit, Dhurgham Hamid, said the dead included a man who was a supervisor at the provincial education directorate and his wife who was an accountant at the agency. “They were peaceful people who had nothing to do with the resistance or gunmen,” Hamid said.
It was third claim of civilian casualties from US airstrikes in as many days, raids that have prompted complaints that too many ordinary Iraqis are losing their lives, particularly as the Americans increasingly rely on air power to attack militants.
