Iraqi official condemns US forces raid (2nd Roundup)

Sep 19, 2008, 16:38 GMT

Baghdad - Salahaddin province deputy governor denounced on Friday a US forces raid in the northern Iraqi province, which left eight people dead, describing the operation as 'tragic'.

'Early excuses presented by US troops to al-Dor town police were rejected,' Abdullah Hussein Jabbara said in a statement to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Earlier on Friday, witnesses told dpa that US forces killed a family of eight, including two children, in a helicopter bombing on their house in Salahaddin province.

Two children and three women were among the victims when the Ali Taema household in the al-Dor district, 170 kilometres north of Baghdad, was hit.

'The house is occupied by one family and no one has entered the house when it was raided. The US forces should have made sure before destroying the house,' Jabbara explained.

Jabbara demanded US forces to be more careful in the raid operations 'to avoid the tragic accidents that took place several times before'.

A spokesman for the US-led forces in Baghdad said it was targeting terrorists and said the raid had killed at least three suspects, adding that the US military warned residents repeatedly for an hour before the raid. He said forces bombed the house when those inside refused to surrender.

The coalition forces spokesman said the raid had killed three women and three terrorist suspects, in addition to a child the US military said it had pulled from the rubble and given medical care.

'Sadly, this incident again shows that the al-Qaeda terrorists repeatedly risk the lives of innocent women and children to further their evil work,' Multi-National Forces Spokesperson, Jerry O'Hara said.

The coalition spokesman said one of the men killed in the raid was an explosives maker for al-Qaeda.

The US and Iraq are negotiating a long-term security pact that would regulate US troops in Iraq. One of the most controversial elements of the pact is the issue of whether US soldiers would be immune from local prosecution.

In a separate development, unidentified gunmen shot dead a woman in front of her house in Qada al-Tuz district in Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north-east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, VOI reported. The gunmen fled to an unknown destination.

Meanwhile, a source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency on Friday that US forces will release 100 detainees from their jails near the Baghdad airport on Saturday as part of a programme to free Iraqi prisoners during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

'US army has released more than 1,000 Iraqis from its jails during Ramadan in batches,' said Kareem al-Sayab, a media advisor for the US forces, adding that the total number of Iraqi prisoners in US detention centres was 18,900, including 150 juveniles and 10 women.

'The release takes place after verifying that those prisoners would pose no threat to the Iraqi society,' Sayab added.