Seven US soldiers killed North of Baghdad

MIL-4LD IRAQ-UNREST
Seven US soldiers killed North of Baghdad — MNF

BAGHDAD, Feb 23 (KUNA) — Seven US soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in Northern Baghdad on Thursday, the multi-national forces said.

A spokesman in the MNF told KUNA a home-made bomb exploded in Huwaijah governorate to the North of the Iraqi capital killing seven American forces.

The spokesman gave no further details. (pickup previous) mhg.

bs



KUNA 232234 Feb 06NNNN

Link: www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=832541

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Soldier’s testimony: 'We just drove off looking for more people to kill’

Many of the new documents include testimonies by soldiers and civilians describing abuse they have witnessed in Iraq.

Among the documents is a statement by an army private describing how his platoon attacked a village after soldiers joked that their sergeant was a coward.

The sergeant decided to prove himself by setting an ambush for an Iraqi civilian.

"Right before a mission one night the sergeant went up to his gunner and asked him if he wanted to test the MK-19 multiple grenade launcher on someone tonight.

"We usually just drive around and look for people with AKs rifles and confiscate them. We have always been able to drive up to them and take the weapon from them with no shots fired.

"That night on a mission we saw an Iraqi civilian walking towards us on the other side of the canal. So we decided to set up an ambush and kill him.

"We waited until he was next to us on the other side of the canal and opened fire on him. He never took his rifle off his shoulder.

"He just ran away from us into a field for cover. In the countryside in Iraq all people have guns for protection.

"After the man ran into the field we waited close to a minute and there was never any fire returned. That’s when my platoon sergeant told his gunner to spray the field with MK-19 grenade rounds.

"The gunner put about four to five rounds into the field. Still there was no return fire. But next door to the field was a house.

Screaming

"The climate is so hot that everybody sleeps outside. After the MK-19 explosions all you heard was women and children screaming.

"My platoon sergeant told my gunner to get his eyes night vision equipment on the house. There were two men, four to six women and about ten children. My platoon sergeant asked my gunner if there were any weapons and he said 'no’, that the two men were just trying to get the women and children all inside.

Then a single shot came off in the distance well over 500 meters away. My platoon sergeant said 'fuck it’ and 'light them up’.

His gunner shot about three to four MK-19 rounds into the front yard and everyone else shot M16 assault rifles. It lasted about ten seconds.

"Then we just stopped and saw that the two men were injured. One of them had his arm blown off.

"All the people at the house were panicking. Some ran into the woods, some into the house, and a couple next door into another house. We just sat there and watched them.

"Finally an Iraqi civilian vehicle drove by and loaded a bunch of injured people and drove off. And so did we, looking for more people to kill."

The soldier recounts how captured Iraqis would be "hog tied" to the front of their Humvee military vehicles.

Captive

"We would put the captive on top of the Humvees with the gunner until one tried to throw up. After that we would hog tie them and stuff them in between the hood and the brush guard.

"I asked, 'At least tie his leg to the brush guard so he doesn’t fall off’ and my superior would say, 'Who cares? If he falls off we just run him over and it’s one less to worry about’."

The private describes in his statement how his platoon was involved in looting the homes of Iraqis.

The platoon would follow expensive cars to their homes. Soldiers would then search the home and "steal stuff from the houses or POWs prisoners, such as bricks of money, Iraqi army medals, uniforms, pictures of Saddam... all the way down to cigarette lighters".

Despite the private’s seven page testimony, none of the other soldiers in his platoon were prepared to back him up. The rest of the report is composed of denials.

The report concludes that no action would be taken and all charges were dismissed.

You can read summaries of the latest documents at:

http://www.action.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/011206/

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.