October 06, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 23, 1428

BAGHDAD, Oct 5: US operations against insurgents near the Iraqi city of Baquba on Friday killed at least 25 people the military said were “criminals” but Iraqi officials said women and children were among the dead.

A US military statement said a strike targeted an Iranian-linked commander believed to be smuggling weapons across the border from Iran, accused by the Americans of fuelling the sectarian conflict in Iraq.

US aircraft killed the insurgents and destroyed two houses after a heavy firefight near Baquba, 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, during which rebels fired rocket-propelled grenades, it said.

Iraqi police spokesman Khudhayir al-Timimi said civilians were among the dead and wounded in a US air raid on Al-Jayzani village northwest of Baquba, which appeared to be part of the same military operation.

“Twenty-five people were killed and 40 others wounded, including women and children in the US air strike that targeted Al-Jayzani,” Timimi said.

An Iraqi defence ministry official earlier said at least 17 Iraqis including women and children were killed, 27 wounded and eight missing.

Witnesses said US helicopters attacked Jayzani, northwest of the mainly Shia town of Al-Khalis, at around 2 am (2300 GMT), destroying at least four houses.

A photographer saw at least four trucks, each carrying several bodies from Jayzani, being driven through Baghdad to the Shiite holy city of Najaf for burial. One of the dead was clearly an elderly man.

Ahmed Mohammed, 31, said he had travelled with 15 wounded from the area to the Medical City Hospital in Baghdad.

“There are 24 bodies on the ground in the village and 25 others wounded in Al-Khalis hospital,” he said.

US military spokesman Major Winfield Danielson said the site of its raid was southwest of Khalis and could not confirm their operations involved a strike on Jayzani.

“I don’t have that village on my map, so I’m not sure if it is in that area,” he said.

“As for the operation in question, we have no reports that any Iraqi civilians were killed as a result of this operation,” Danielson said.

The decision to engage came when US forces saw an insurgent carrying what appeared to be an anti-aircraft weapon.

“Perceiving hostile intent, supporting aircraft engaged, killing an estimated 25 criminals and destroying two buildings.” Danielson said their main quarry, the Special Groups commander, appeared to have escaped.

“We do not believe he was in the area at the time of the engagement and we have not assessed him as one of the terrorists killed,” he said.

The US military said at the weekend it had seized sophisticated Iranian-made surface-to-air missiles that were being used by insurgents in the war-torn country.

Friday’s clash comes amid heightened tension between Tehran and Washington after US forces detained Iranian national Mahmudi Farhadi in northern Iraq a fortnight ago, prompting Tehran to close its border with the Kurdish autonomous region.

The US military charges that Farhadi is an officer in the covert operations arm of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, accused by American commanders of helping Shiite militias involved in Iraq’s bloody sectarian conflict.—AFP