IRAQ: Two killed, nine detained during U.S. raid in Iraq's Sadr City

Two people are reported killed and nine detained after a dawn raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad's Shi'ite bastion of Sadr City. The raid comes as the U.S. launched a big offensive which is part of a major new countrywide push against Sunni and Shi'ite militants. Two people were reported killed and nine others were detained during a pre-dawn raid by Iraqi and U.S. forces on Tuesday (August 14) morning in Baghdad's crowded Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, residents said. They said that the forces raided the city, a stronghold of fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia at 0400 a.m., killing a three and a half-year old girl and his father while they were sleeping on the roof of their house. The U.S. military could not be immediately reached for confirmation and further details on the raid. "I used to bake breads and sell it to feed them and when they grew they started to work to help me. We though that we would be relieved when Saddam fell, we did not expect that he was replaced with the worst. only God can beat them (the Americans)," said Umm Falah whose three sons were detained after the raid. The city, a home to more than two million people has been frequently raided by U.S. forces during the past few months. The U.S. military said on Monday (August 13) that U.S. forces killed an estimated three to five men suspected of bringing weapons from Iran and arrested 13 others in a pre-dawn raid in the Shi'ite slum of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Sunday (August 12). Washington blames rogue Mehdi Army elements of using technologically advanced roadside bombs, which are made from components smuggled in from Iran, to target U.S. troops. U.S. and Iraqi forces launched an offensive against al Qaeda and "Iranian-supported" Shi'ite militants across Iraq on Monday (August 13) in anticipation of an expected surge in violence. U.S. commanders fear militants will step up attacks on U.S. soldiers or launch a "spectacular" attack on civilians to try to influence the debate over the war in Washington, where a keenly awaited progress report on the new U.S. military strategy in Iraq is due to be presented to Congress in September.

ITN Source | August 14, 2007

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