British military investigators will examine allegations about the death of a 62-year-old Iraqi woman who was caught up in crossfire during a raid on her home, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Monday.
One of Sabiha Khudur Talib’s sons claims British soldiers were involved in “torturing” and “executing” the grandmother in 2006.
Police in Basra, Iraq, reportedly concluded that the woman’s body was dumped on a roadside in a British body bag and documents detailing their findings are to be passed to British ministers, the Independent newspaper said.
The newspaper reported that police had established there was a bullet hole in her abdomen and her face bore injuries consistent with torture.
The MoD confirmed the woman was shot by British troops when she was caught in crossfire, but deny she was murdered or tortured.
Her family say the house was raided in the early hours of Nov. 15, 2006, and they saw Talib being led away by soldiers afterwards.
Another of her sons, Karim Gatii Karim al-Maliki, reportedly fired a rifle into a ceiling to scare off what he believed were criminal intruders and he was killed when the soldiers fired into the house.
Lawyers for the family demanded a full inquiry.
Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, told the Independent: “The possibility that British forces in 2006 could have tortured and executed an innocent elderly woman should shock the nation.”
“Such an allegation must be immediately independently investigated as a possible murder,” he said.
The case is one of 47 claims of abuse and torture lodged by Iraqis represented by Shiner that are being investigated by the British government.
A spokesman for the MoD said: “A post-incident report from 1st Battalion the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment describes an incident on 15 November 2006 in which soldiers from the unit were conducting an arrest operation when an Iraqi national, Karim Gatii Karim, opened fire on them.”
“One British soldier was wounded and Karim Gatii Karim was shot dead. Mr Karim’s mother, Sabiha Khudur Talib was regrettably wounded in the crossfire and, despite attempts to save her, she sadly died of her wounds,” he said.
“She was not tortured by British Forces and her body was not dumped by the roadside. It was returned to Iraqi authorities,” the spokesman said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS