A U.S. air strike on a house north of Baghdad killed more than 13 Iraqi civilians, including several women and children, police and witnesses said, according to The Washington Post.
Police said the U.S. assault took place early Wednesday in the village of Is’haqi, 170 km north of Baghdad.
There were conflicting reports on the number of Iraqi casualties.
The U.S. army claimed in a statement that it carried out the operation to capture “a foreign fighter facilitator" for al-Qaeda. It confirmed that a man, two women and a child were killed in the operation.
Police Capt. Hakim Azzawi said that that U.S. helicopters bombed the house of Fayez Khairat Khalaf Turfa, killing 13 civilians, five children, six women and two men.
Khalaf's brother, Ahmed, said nine of the victims were family members who lived at the house and two were unidentified visitors.
"The killed family was not part of the resistance; they were women and children," Ahmed Khalaf told the Associated Press. "The Americans have promised us a better life, but we get only death."
A U.S. army spokesman, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, said the military was "investigating why there is a discrepancy" in accounts of the operation and the number of casualties.
Police said the U.S. assault took place early Wednesday in the village of Is’haqi, 170 km north of Baghdad.
There were conflicting reports on the number of Iraqi casualties.
The U.S. army claimed in a statement that it carried out the operation to capture “a foreign fighter facilitator" for al-Qaeda. It confirmed that a man, two women and a child were killed in the operation.
Police Capt. Hakim Azzawi said that that U.S. helicopters bombed the house of Fayez Khairat Khalaf Turfa, killing 13 civilians, five children, six women and two men.
Khalaf's brother, Ahmed, said nine of the victims were family members who lived at the house and two were unidentified visitors.
"The killed family was not part of the resistance; they were women and children," Ahmed Khalaf told the Associated Press. "The Americans have promised us a better life, but we get only death."
A U.S. army spokesman, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, said the military was "investigating why there is a discrepancy" in accounts of the operation and the number of casualties.
