Gość: PP
IP: 207.7.201.*
20.10.04, 23:41
U.S. Raids Kill Family of 6 in Rebel-Held Iraqi City
By Yasser Faisal
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes killed a family of six in raids
against rebels led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, while a top
international aid agency suspended Iraq operations Wednesday after its manager
was kidnapped.
A Reuters witness saw a man and a woman and four children, two boys and two
girls, being pulled out of the rubble of a razed home in the rebel-held city
of Falluja, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad.
The U.S. military denied a family of six was killed, saying it launched four
strikes against safehouses used by Zarqawi's fighters.
"Intelligence sources indicate a known Zarqawi propagandist is passing false
reports to the media," it said in a statement.
Reuters television footage showed men chanting "There is no God but Allah!" as
they carried the body of the father of the family of six.
"Is this the gift that (interim Iraqi Prime Minister) Iyad Allawi is giving to
the people of Falluja?" asked one man, pointing to the small bodies of two of
the children lying in the trunk of a car. "Every day they strike Falluja."
SAMARRA CLASHES
At least eight civilians were killed and 11 U.S. soldiers wounded in clashes
in Samarra, a northern town the U.S. military said it had pacified following
an offensive earlier this month.
Two car bombs killed a child and also wounded a civilian translator in the
center of the town, the U.S. military said. A police official said eight
civilians had been killed and 12 wounded in clashes.
Care International, an aid agency working in Iraq on health and water
projects, suspended operations after its British-Iraqi manager in Iraq,
Margaret Hassan, was abducted and said it might pull out of the country
altogether.
Hours after she was abducted Tuesday, Hassan, who has lived in Iraq for 30
years, was shown sitting alone and anxious in a video aired on Al Jazeera
television, which said an unnamed group claimed to be holding her.
"At the moment we have suspended operations, and we will continue to pull out
of the country unless we can resolve this issue," Care International chief
Geoffrey Dennis told BBC radio.
Scores of foreigners have been kidnapped since April and at least 35 have been
killed, several of them beheaded.
The U.S. military says its almost nightly strikes on Falluja are carefully
targeted at fighters led by Jordanian militant Zarqawi, who it says is holed
up in the city.
But residents say they know nothing of Zarqawi
