Iraqi official's kin killed in U.S. attack
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ALI HAMEED
The New York Times
BAGHDAD — U.S. Special Operations forces shot to death the son and nephew of the governor of Salahuddin province in a raid Sunday in the northern city of Bayji, the latest in a series of operations in which civilians or close associates of Iraqi government officials have died.
The governor, Hamed al-Qaisi, threatened to resign in protest and said he would suspend cooperation with U.S. officials.
Iraqi and U.S. officials offered sharply different accounts of Sunday's attack, though the deputy provincial governor said U.S. officials already had apologized to both him and al-Qaisi, who was traveling in Turkey.
Aides to the governor said U.S. Special Operations forces broke into a house at 3 a.m. and shot and killed the governor's 17-year-old son, Hussam.
A spokesman for the governor, Maj. Muthanna Ibrahim, said Hussam was shot in his head, stomach and shoulder while he slept. Hussam's 23-year-old cousin, Uday Khalaf, awoke and tried to push open the door to Hussam's room, but he was also shot and killed, Ibrahim said.
The two appeared not to have been the targets of the raid. Instead, the U.S. military command in Baghdad said the house had been raided to capture a "suspected al-Qaida in Iraq operative" and a man "identified as the targeted individual charged coalition forces and was injured during the operation."
That suspect was taken to a military hospital, and another "suspected terrorist" was arrested, the military said.
In a separate statement, the military said one of the men killed had been armed with an AK-47 automatic rifle and the other had a pistol.
source:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...09_iraq21.html
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