Coalition denies claims of Iraqi civilian deaths
The air strike was called in after troops came under heavy fire
Also In The News
|
Llanelli Scarlets kept their title hopes alive after romping to a 52-23 win over Leinster at Donnybrook in the Magners League. |  |
Saturday, 06, Oct 2007 02:47
A statement from the US-led coalition in Iraq has denied that innocent local people were among the 25 killed in an air strike carried out yesterday.
Reports on the incident, which occurred near Baquba, 60km north of the capital Baghdad, had claimed that women and children were among those killed when air support arrived to assist troops who had come under fire.
"Media have been reporting that the 25 individuals killed in an operation early Friday morning at a location near Baquba were innocent civilians. This is not true," read the statement.
"In this instance, we have confirmed that the 25 criminals who were killed were responsible for the attack on our forces and in fact were members of an extremist group operating in the Baquba region.
"Coalition forces respond to unprovoked attacks in self-defence, taking all possible measures to preclude the loss of innocent civilian lives."
The coalition's insistence that all those killed were part of a militant insurgency comes in opposition to comments from an Iraqi police spokesperson who had claimed that civilians had been killed in the battle.
The troops had been on an operation to locate a weapons smuggler associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards when they were attacked during an attempt to search the Shia Muslim village of al-Jaysani.