G
gilliam
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Updating a previous post, from the Washington Post (buried in the middle of the article):
Meanwhile, in a village near the northern city of Mosul, where the U.S. military reported that it had mistakenly dropped a 500-pound bomb on the wrong target Saturday, residents said the Americans actually hit the correct house, killing an insurgent who they said had killed Iraqi security forces. The residents of Aaytha, 30 miles south of Mosul, said the bomb hit the home of the Numan family, members of the prominent Sunni Muslim Jubori tribe, one of the largest in Iraq. Witnesses said the blast killed 14 members of the family, including 10 women and children. Neighbors said a toddler related to the family was the sole survivor.
Salem Jasem Jubori, who lives close to the house that was destroyed, said the head of the household was a middle-age man who “used to kill and cut” his victims, primarily Iraqi police and National Guardsmen, in front of villagers.
“He was ferocious, very fierce and wild,” Jubori said.
The U.S. military said in a statement Saturday that five people were killed and that it “deeply regretted the loss of possibly innocent lives.” The statement said the house struck by an F-16 fighter jet “was not the intended target. . . . The intended target was another location nearby.”
The military had no immediate reaction to the villagers’ account.
Ali Yussef Shahin, 42, a relative of the people killed in the house, said no insurgents were in the village of about 100 houses.
“I think they did make a mistake,” said Shahin, who lives in Mosul. “They wanted to attack the house to provoke the people.”
Residents said the village of Aaytha has been largely peaceful but harbors extremists who oppose U.S. forces in Iraq.
Jubori, the neighbor of the family that was killed, said U.S. soldiers raided the house before it was bombed but did not make any arrests. He said that about five minutes after the Americans left the village, he heard a huge explosion.
“All the local people left their houses and went running,” he said. “Because I lived the closest, I was the first who reached the bombed house. It was totally destroyed. We hurried to save our distressed neighbors but we discovered no one survived. All of them were killed.”
Meanwhile, in a village near the northern city of Mosul, where the U.S. military reported that it had mistakenly dropped a 500-pound bomb on the wrong target Saturday, residents said the Americans actually hit the correct house, killing an insurgent who they said had killed Iraqi security forces. The residents of Aaytha, 30 miles south of Mosul, said the bomb hit the home of the Numan family, members of the prominent Sunni Muslim Jubori tribe, one of the largest in Iraq. Witnesses said the blast killed 14 members of the family, including 10 women and children. Neighbors said a toddler related to the family was the sole survivor.
Salem Jasem Jubori, who lives close to the house that was destroyed, said the head of the household was a middle-age man who “used to kill and cut” his victims, primarily Iraqi police and National Guardsmen, in front of villagers.
“He was ferocious, very fierce and wild,” Jubori said.
The U.S. military said in a statement Saturday that five people were killed and that it “deeply regretted the loss of possibly innocent lives.” The statement said the house struck by an F-16 fighter jet “was not the intended target. . . . The intended target was another location nearby.”
The military had no immediate reaction to the villagers’ account.
Ali Yussef Shahin, 42, a relative of the people killed in the house, said no insurgents were in the village of about 100 houses.
“I think they did make a mistake,” said Shahin, who lives in Mosul. “They wanted to attack the house to provoke the people.”
Residents said the village of Aaytha has been largely peaceful but harbors extremists who oppose U.S. forces in Iraq.
Jubori, the neighbor of the family that was killed, said U.S. soldiers raided the house before it was bombed but did not make any arrests. He said that about five minutes after the Americans left the village, he heard a huge explosion.
“All the local people left their houses and went running,” he said. “Because I lived the closest, I was the first who reached the bombed house. It was totally destroyed. We hurried to save our distressed neighbors but we discovered no one survived. All of them were killed.”