US troops Tuesday faced fresh accusations of unlawful killings of civilians in Iraq, as the main Sunni Arab party accused them of murdering more than two dozen innocent Iraqis in a series of incidents across the country in May. "The US forces have violated human rights many times across Iraq," said Omar al-Juburi, spokesman for the human rights department of the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is led by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.
In the latest in a string of allegations against US forces, Juburi said 29 Iraqis were killed in May in separate incidents involving US forces in the towns of Latifiyah and Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad, and in the capital itself. "On May 13, US forces launched an air assault on a civilian car in Latifiyah and killed six people inside the car," Juburi told reporters. "On the same day US forces attacked with aircraft the house of a civilian, Saadun Mohsen Hassan, and killed seven of his family members." Juburi said US forces carried out another air strike the next day on the house of Sheikh Yassin Saleh Shallal in the town of Yusifiyah, "killing 13 people, including women and children." Three other Iraqis were killed in US raids in Baghdad, he said.
The nearby towns of Latifiyah and Yusifiyah have been the scene of increased insurgent activity and several US operations. |