49 Fighters Killed in Baghdad Raid, Military Says
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BAGHDAD — American forces backed by airstrikes raided Sadr City, Baghdad’s main Shiite district, killing 49 militants today as they targeted a militia leader accused in high-profile kidnappings, the military said. Iraqi officials said women and children were among the dead.
The Iraqi reports followed other recent claims of civilian deaths as a result of American military action or shootings by private Western security teams protecting American diplomats and aid groups. The military said it was not know of any civilians killed.
Tensions also rose in northern Iraq after separatist Kurdish rebels ambushed a military unit near Turkey’s border with Iraq, killing at least 12 soldiers. Turkey’s government has threatened to take action against the rebels based in northern Iraq if the American-led coalition in Iraq does not stop the Kurdish attacks on Turkish forces.
Hours after the ambush, an Iraqi army officer from the border guard forces, Colonel Hussein Rashid, said Turkish forces fired about 15 artillery shells toward Kurdish villages in the border area in northern Iraq. But there were no casualties.
In Sadr City, the American military said “an estimated 49 criminals” were killed in three separate engagements during a raid targeting a suspected rogue Shiite militia leader specializing in kidnapping operations for which he sought funding from Iran.
American troops returned fire after coming under sustained attack from automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades from nearby buildings as they began to raid a series of buildings in the district, according to a statement, which added that some 33 militants were killed in the firefight. Ground forces then called in airstrikes, which killed some six militants.
The American troops were then attacked by a roadside bomb and continued heavy fire as they left the area, killing another 10 combatants in subsequent clashes.
“All total, coalition forces estimate that 49 criminals were killed in three separate engagements during this operation. Ground forces reported they were unaware of any innocent civilians being killed as a result of this operation,” the military said in the updated statement.
