Another Alleged U.S.Led Massacre. This Time in Ishaqi, Iraq

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Troops Cleared of Charges in Actions Taken at Ishaqi. PLEASE IGNORE STORY BELOW!!!

By Tom Regan csmonitor.com

The US Defense department says it is investigating allegations of another shooting by US troops of civilians, including women and children, during a March 2006 raid in Iraq. CNN reports that this most recent incident took place in the Abu Seffa district in the town of Ishaqi.

Iraqi police said 11 people were killed in a US-led raid against a suspected Al Qaeda in Iraq site, including five children – the youngest 6 months old – four women, and two men were killed. The US military provided a lower casualty count, saying an insurgent, two women and a child were killed.

At the time, the US military said its troops came under fire during the raid, and the building was destroyed by air and ground fire. Troops then took into custody for questioning a man believed to be a "foreign fighter facilitator."

But, at the same time, a local Iraqi police official told CNN that eyewitnesses said the US troops had kept "an entire family" in a room before shooting them, and then blowing up the house. The official also told CNN that police later found bullet casings in the house that could only belong to US troops.

The Toronto Star reports that the US military agreed to launch a new investigation after it was presented with a videotape of what appeared to be the bodies of the people killed in the fighting. The video in question was given to the BBC by a Sunni political group opposed to coalition forces, and challenges the US version of what happened in the house.

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