[NYTr] Bombs Hit Iraqi Shiite Areas; 7 Killed

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Oct 22, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=ORBAK&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Bombs Hit Iraqi Shiite Areas; 7 Killed

By BUSHRA JUHI
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Bombs targeted Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad on
Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding two dozen, while
Iraqi police reported that a woman and her daughter were wounded in an
American airstrike against the Shiite enclave of Sadr City.

The airstrike leveled a small shop selling engine oil, wounding a woman
and her daughter who were in their house nearby, a police officer said,
speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
release the information. The U.S. military said it was checking on the
report.

The number killed in Baghdad's main Shiite enclave was one of the
highest tolls for a single operation since President Bush declared an
end to active combat in 2003.

But Iraqi police and hospital officials, who often overstate
casualties, reported only 15 deaths, including a woman, a 14-year-old
boy and two toddlers. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh and
other Iraqi officials said all the dead were civilians.

A local representative of Muqtada al-Sadr denounced the raid but urged
followers to abide by the radical Shiite cleric's call to refrain from
violence.

Al-Sadr has ordered gunmen loyal to him to put down their arms, but
thousands of followers dissatisfied with being taken out of the fight
have formed a loose confederation that the military says is armed and
trained by Iran.

"We call upon the humanitarian organizations to be aware of the crimes
of the Americans ... against innocent people," Falah al-Obeidi said.
"We call upon al-Sadr's people to have self-restraint. Their reaction
should be peaceful and should not violate the order of the leader
Muqtada al-Sadr to freeze their activities."

An Associated Press reporter counted 11 death certificates linked to
the raid Sunday in Sadr City's Imam Ali hospital, and hospital
officials said one person died at the district's General Hospital and
three others at the neurology hospital in central Baghdad.

The U.S. military said it was not aware of any civilian casualties, and
the discrepancy in the death tolls and accounts of what happened could
not be reconciled. American commanders reported no U.S. casualties.

"At this time, we still have no evidence to suggest there are civilian
casualties," Lt. Justin Cole, a military spokesman, said Monday. He
declined to comment on how the military determined 49 militants were
killed, saying the information was classified.

The district council called on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's
government to "announce its absolute rejection of the monstrous
military campaigns staged by the Americans under different pretexts"
and to conduct an investigation and compensate the families of those
killed. The council demanded that the government assume responsibility
for security of Sadr City and ban U.S.-led forces from entering the
district.

Al-Dabbagh said on CNN that al-Maliki, a Shiite, had met with the U.S.
commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, to protest the action.

The military has said Sunday's raid on the dangerous Shiite slum was
aimed at capturing an alleged rogue militia chief, one of thousands of
fighters who have broken with al-Sadr's mainstream Mahdi Army, although
the military did not provide his name.

The U.S. operation was the latest in a series that have produced
significant death tolls, including civilians, as American forces
increasingly take the fight to Sunni insurgents, al-Qaida militants and
Shiite militiamen.

On Monday, a bomb exploded in a square frequented by municipal workers
from a nearby building in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Zafaraniyah
in southeastern Baghdad. Within minutes, another blast struck police
arriving to help with rescue efforts.

In all, three civilians were killed and 11 people wounded, police said.

A roadside bomb struck a minibus in Karradah, another predominantly
Shiite neighborhood in central Baghdad, killing four people and
wounding 12, police said.

Police also announced that gunmen killed Ahmed al-Mashhadani, an
adviser to the leader of the largest Sunni Arab bloc in parliament,
Adnan al-Dulaimi.

[Associated Press writer Hamid Ahmed contributed to this report.]

© 2007 The Associated Press.