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US apologizes for killing nine Iraqi civilians in airstrike

The US military said yesterday it had accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians during an operation targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq south of Baghdad.

The civilians were killed on Saturday near Iskandariyah, 50km south of the Iraqi capital, US Navy Lieutenant Patrick Evans said.

Three more civilians were wounded and taken to US military hospitals nearby, he said.

Evans did not give details about exactly how the people were killed, but said the killings occurred as US forces pursued suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq militants in the area.

The incident and the events surrounding it are under investigation, he said.

Iraqi police said the victims, including two women, were in two houses in the village of Tal al-Samar, which was bombed by US warplanes late on Saturday. They were all Sunni members of the al-Ghrir tribe, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

The US airstrike came after a US convoy came under enemy fire in Tal al-Samar, and soldiers called for air support, the Iraqi officer said.

Shortly after the incident, US officers met with a Muslim sheik representing citizens in the area, Evans said.

"We offer our condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident, and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life," he said in a statement.

The military gave no further details.

But a statement from a hardline group of Sunni clerics known as the Muslim Scholars' Association said US warplanes had bombarded an area known as al-Khanassa, near al-Madain, which lies to the northeast of Iskandariyah.

"Twenty people were killed in this major attack, including 17 members of the Imad Salim family," said the association, which is suspected of links to several insurgent groups, including al-Qaeda and now based in Amman, Jordan.

About 50 people were arrested along with the imam of a local mosque, Ibrahim al-Nasser, the clerics said, condemning "these crimes committed by the occupier which continue day after day."

"The site of the incident is well known as a bastion of those who reject the occupation," the statement said.

The military said at the time it was investigating the claims.

Saturday's strike was the deadliest known case of mistaken identity in recent months.

In November, a leader of one of the so-called awakening councils -- Sunni tribesmen allied with US forces, fighting to oust al-Qaeda from their hometowns -- said US soldiers killed dozens of his fighters during a 12-hour battle north of Baghdad.

The leader, Mansour Abid Salim of the Taji Awakening Council, accused US troops of mistaking his men for militants.

The US military admitted killing 25 men, but said they were insurgents operating "in the target area" where al-Qaeda was believed to be hiding. It investigated that incident, but the two versions of events were never reconciled.
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