US forces kill 'eight bystanders' in Iraq

[joeblow]

US forces kill 'eight bystanders' in Iraq
Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:06:06 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=1 ... =351020201



US forces have shot eight Iraqi people, most of them 'innocent bystanders,' in a raid in a village southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi provincial officials say.

Iraqi provincial council officials described the US raid as slaughter and demanded financial compensation for the relatives of the victims.

Maysan province governor Mohammed Shia al-Sudany told state-run television that eight people were killed, one wounded and 12 arrested in the village 75 km (46 miles) north of the provincial capital of Amara.

"What happened this morning was a massacre in every sense of the word. Eight people were killed. Most of them were innocent," Reuters quoted Sudany as saying.

The US military, however, said the raid was against suspected members of what it called a terrorist Iran-backed group.

"The joint security team was fired upon by individuals dispersed in multiple residential buildings ... members of the security team returned fire, killing individuals assessed to be enemy combatants," the US military said in a statement on Friday.

"While the number of casualties has not yet been confirmed, initial reports indicate five individuals were killed," the statement added.

This is while Iraqi officials have called on US troops to release all those arrested during the raid and to apologize for the attack.

HRF/JG/DT