US targeted Iran-tied group in raid

In a Sunday attack in Baghdad, US forces sought members of 'Special Groups,' its name for Mahdi Army offshoots it says have Iranian ties. At least 49 Iraqis were killed.

from the October 22, 2007 edition

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Mr. Abdel-Karim, a resident of Sadr City, said he saw 10 US Stryker combat vehicles arrive in his neighborhood at about 10:30 p.m. local time Saturday. He said they were quickly attacked by militiamen in the area prompting a fierce fight that lasted nearly 10 hours.

Several loud explosions could be heard across the capital at about 6:30 a.m.

He said several homes, neighborhood power generators, and at least 25 cars were badly damaged in the fighting.

"People are very angry at the silence of the Iraqi government over these unprovoked actions by the US military," said Mr. Okaili, the Sadrist parliamentarian.

On Sunday, hundreds of local residents, wailing and chanting "There is no God but Allah," carried wooden coffins through the streets.

US military spokesman Maj. Winfield Danielson said: "When we engage hostile threats, we make every effort to protect innocent civilians."

There was no immediate response from Iraq's government, but it has harshly criticized the US military in the past for operations that have resulted in the loss of civilian life.

The military gave no details about the kidnap victims, apart from the dates they were abducted – this May and last November.

Three US soldiers were kidnapped in an Al Qaeda stronghold south of Baghdad in May. The body of one was found later that month but the other two are classed as missing and captured. Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the abductions.

The same month, the five Britons were abducted in the Iraqi capital in an attack blamed on Mahdi Army militants.

A US Army translator of Iraqi descent was kidnapped in Baghdad on Oct. 23 last year when he went to visit relatives. His family said he was taken by the members of the Mahdi Army.

Sadr froze the activities of the Mahdi Army after 52 were killed in gun battles between rival Shiite militias in the city of Karbala.

On another front, Kurdish rebels ambushed a Turkish military unit near Turkey's border with Iraq early Sunday, killing 12 soldiers and increasing pressure on the Turkish government to stage attacks against guerrilla camps in Iraq.

Turkey's parliament earlier this week overwhelmingly passed a motion authorizing its military to launch an offensive into northern Iraq against hideouts of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Sunday's death toll raises the number of soldiers killed in PKK attacks in the past two weeks to around 30. On Sunday, Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, met with Massoud Barzani head of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region, where most of the rebels are believed to be holed up.

Awadh al-Taie in Baghdad contributed reporting. Material from Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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