|
US gunships fires on crowd Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6212636http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6212636
Violence Sweeps Iraq, U.S. Gunship Fires on Crowd
Sun Sep 12, 2004 05:07 PM ET
By Ibon Villelabeitia
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. helicopter gunship fired at Iraqis milling around a burning U.S. vehicle in a Baghdad street on Sunday, one of Iraq's bloodiest days for weeks in which at least 110 people died in clashes around the country.
The Health Ministry said the worst casualties were in Baghdad, where 37 were killed, and in Tal Afar near the Syrian border where 51 people died.
U.S. troops mounted a major offensive on Thursday in Tal Afar, a suspected haven for foreign fighters about 60 miles from Syria, but the military gave no immediate explanation for the steep rise in the death toll on Sunday.
In Baghdad, witnesses and officials said 13 people died and 61 were wounded during fierce battles in the area where the gunship fired.
The city also suffered at least seven car bombs and various outbreaks of violence, and insurgents fired a dozen mortar bombs or rockets around the U.S.-occupied Green Zone compound.
It was one of the heaviest barrages in the capital in months. "We've seen a tremendous increase in the number of attacks," Brigadier General Erv Lessel, a U.S. military spokesman, told Reuters.
South of Baghdad, three Polish soldiers were killed and three wounded when they were attacked near Hilla.
In rebel-occupied Ramadi, west of Baghdad, U.S. tanks and helicopters fired on a residential district, killing 10 Iraqis, including women and children, a doctor said. The U.S. military had no immediate comment.
The surge in violence coincided with new American offensives to retake insurgent-held areas before elections due in January.
HELICOPTER GUNSHIP
Heavy fighting erupted in Haifa Street, a thoroughfare in central Baghdad notorious as a rebel stronghold. The crackle of gunfire echoed for several hours as U.S. tanks and tank-like Bradley fighting vehicles moved into the area.
Witnesses said a U.S. helicopter fired at a group of Iraqis crowded round a burning Bradley. Reuters Television images showed Iraqis running for cover shortly before a blast felled Al Arabiya producer Mazen Tomeizi.
The Palestinian, who was working for the Dubai-based TV channel, died soon afterwards. Reuters cameraman Seif Fouad, who had been recording the scene, was also injured in the explosion.
"Mazen's blood was on my camera and face," Fouad said from his hospital bed. He said his friend screamed at him for help: "Seif, Seif! I'm going to die. I'm going to die."
The U.S. military said two of its helicopters opened fire after coming under attack from the crowd. Reuters television footage showed no evidence of shooting from the ground.
"As the helicopters flew over the burning Bradley they received small-arms fire from the insurgents in vicinity of the vehicle," a military statement said. "Clearly within the rules of engagement, the helicopters returned fire destroying some anti-Iraqi forces in the vicinity of the Bradley."
Earlier, the U.S. military had said a helicopter destroyed the vehicle "to prevent looting and harm to the Iraqi people" after four U.S. soldiers were lightly wounded in the attack on the Bradley.
DAWN ROCKETS
Sunday's violence began at dawn when insurgents fired at the heavily fortified Green Zone. Some rounds landed inside the compound, which also houses Iraq's interim government but there were no reports of casualties.
In other incidents, a car bomb killed a senior police officer, another policeman and a 12-year-old boy on a highway west of Baghdad. A suspected suicide bomber tried to drive through the gates of Abu Ghraib prison but U.S. troops shot and killed him, the military said. Three people were wounded.
In western Baghdad, gunmen killed a policeman.
Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said much of the violence was related to security force raids which netted 16 fugitives.
An Internet statement by the Tawhid and Jihad Group of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who Washington says is behind much Iraq unrest, claimed responsibility for the violence.
Another Internet statement from the previously unknown Islamic Jihad Organization threatened that two kidnapped Italian aid workers would be killed unless Italian troops withdrew.
U.S.-led forces have attacked several militant strongholds this month, bombing targets in Falluja west of Baghdad and moving into Tal Afar. (Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Luke Baker)
|
|
