Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Eleven people — most women and children — were killed when a house was bombed during a U.S. raid north of Baghdad early Wednesday, police and relatives said.

The U.S. military acknowledged four deaths — a man, two women and a child — in the raid that they said netted an insurgent suspect in the rural Isahaqi area, about 50 miles north of the capital.

The victims, some wrapped in blankets, were driven in the back of three pickup trucks to the Tikrit General Hospital, about 45 miles to the north, relatives said.

Associated Press photographs showed the bodies of two men, five children and four other covered figures arriving at the hospital accompanied by grief-stricken relatives.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber on a bicycle missed a police patrol and killed at least two civilians Wednesday in Bagouba north of Baghdad, police said.

Six others were wounded in the attack in downtown Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

The provincial police command said the bomber’s explosives appeared to have detonated prematurely as he was peddling toward the patrol.

t the site of the U.S. raid, Riyadh Majid, who identified himself as the nephew of the killed head of the family — Faez Khalaf — told AP at the hospital that U.S. forces landed in helicopters and stormed the home early Wednesday.

Khalaf’s brother, Ahmed, said nine of the victims were family members who lived at the house and two were unidentified visitors.

“The killed family was not part of the resistance; they were women and children,” Ahmed Khalaf said. “The Americans have promised us a better life, but we get only death.”

The U.S. military said it was targeting and captured an individual suspected of supporting foreign fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq.

“Troops were engaged by enemy fire as they approached the building,” said Tech. Sgt. Stacy Simon, a military spokeswoman. “Coalition forces returned fire utilizing both air and ground assets. The targeted individual was detained during this raid.”

Eleven people — most women and children — were killed when a house was bombed during a U.S. raid north of Baghdad early Wednesday, police and relatives said.

The U.S. military acknowledged four deaths — a man, two women and a child — in the raid that they said netted an insurgent suspect in the rural Isahaqi area, about 50 miles north of the capital.

The victims, some wrapped in blankets, were driven in the back of three pickup trucks to the Tikrit General Hospital, about 45 miles to the north, relatives said.

Associated Press photographs showed the bodies of two men, five children and four other covered figures arriving at the hospital accompanied by grief-stricken relatives.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber on a bicycle missed a police patrol and killed at least two civilians Wednesday in Bagouba north of Baghdad, police said.

Six others were wounded in the attack in downtown Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

The provincial police command said the bomber’s explosives appeared to have detonated prematurely as he was peddling toward the patrol.

At the site of the U.S. raid, Riyadh Majid, who identified himself as the nephew of the killed head of the family — Faez Khalaf — told AP at the hospital that U.S. forces landed in helicopters and stormed the home early Wednesday.

Khalaf’s brother, Ahmed, said nine of the victims were family members who lived at the house and two were unidentified visitors.

“The killed family was not part of the resistance; they were women and children,” Ahmed Khalaf said. “The Americans have promised us a better life, but we get only death.”

The U.S. military said it was targeting and captured an individual suspected of supporting foreign fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq.

“Troops were engaged by enemy fire as they approached the building,” said Tech. Sgt. Stacy Simon, a military spokeswoman. “Coalition forces returned fire utilizing both air and ground assets. The targeted individual was detained during this raid.”