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Confusion May Have Caused 9 Civilian Deaths In Iraq

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The Associated Press

Published: February 5, 2008

BAGHDAD - The deaths of nine civilians, including a child, in a U.S. airstrike south of Baghdad have raised fresh concerns about the military's ability to distinguish friend from foe in a campaign to uproot insurgents from Sunni areas on the capital's doorstep.

Witnesses and Iraqi police said helicopters strafed a house Saturday after confusing U.S.-allied Sunni fighters for extremists in the deadliest case of mistaken identity since November. The U.S. military on Monday confirmed the civilian deaths, but gave few details.

The bloodshed also points to the wider complications for U.S.-led offensives against insurgents in populated areas: As the firepower increases so do the risks of killing innocent people. And each such death potentially frays alliances between the Pentagon and new Sunni allies, widely known as Awakening Councils.

It was one of these groups that apparently was caught in the clash near Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad, where U.S.-led forces stepped up an air and ground assault last month against al-Qaida in Iraq footholds.

A farmer who lives near the site said the Americans retaliated after a mortar attack against a U.S. convoy as it passed a checkpoint manned by Awakening Council fighters.

He said the soldiers apparently thought the barrage came from the Awakening Council fighters and the house to which they fled was attacked.

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