Insurgents detonated a car bomb with two children in it after using the children as decoys to get through a military checkpoint in Baghdad, a US general said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a news briefing at the Pentagon, Major General Michael Barbaro, deputy director for regional operations at the Pentagon's Joint Staff, said US soldiers had stopped the car at the checkpoint but had allowed it to pass after seeing the two children in the back seat.
"Children in the back seat lower suspicion," he said, according to a transcript. "We let it move through. They parked the vehicle. The adults run out and detonate it with the children in back."
He offered no further details.
A top US military spokesman in Baghdad, said late on Tuesday that his office had no record of the bombing but was researching it.
"I don't know what event he's talking about," Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said.
Agence France-Presse, quoting an unnamed US military official, said the incident occurred on Sunday. The bombers parked the vehicle across the street from a school, then ran away, leaving the children inside, the official told the news agency. The blast killed the two children and three other civilians and wounded seven, the official said.
The US command on Tuesday gave its account of a disputed raid on a Shiite mosque in Baghdad late on Monday that infuriated many in the Shiite community and led some to question their cooperation with the latest US-led security plan.
According to a US military statement, Iraqi soldiers stormed the mosque, in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiya in search of suspected militants, and about 50 people were temporarily detained during the raid.
Contrary to claims made by neighbors and Shiite community leaders, the US command said its soldiers had remained outside the building during the entire operation.
After the raid, US-Iraqi forces came under attack by about 20 gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, the statement said, adding that US troops returned fire, killing three people it described as insurgents.
Shiite community leaders and residents in the neighborhood of the raid gave a significantly different account. They said US forces had stormed not one but two mosques. As the soldiers entered one of the mosques they opened fire on worshippers who tried to flee, said Salah Abdul Qadir, spokesman for the Shiite Endowment, a government organization that supervises all Shiite mosques in Iraq.
also see story:
Violence marks anniversary of Iraq war
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese