U.S. Soldiers Kill 25 in Sadr City Raids

By HAMID AHMED

BAGHDAD – U.S. soldiers killed 26 people before dawn Saturday during raids in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood. The U.S. military said the dead were terrorists who had attacked American troops, but Iraqi police and officials said the victims were civilians.

The U.S. military said its troops were attacked with small arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs but there were no U.S. casualties.

The Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, put the death toll at eight, with 20 wounded.

Seventeen suspected militants also were detained in the operation, which consisted of two separate raids, the U.S. military said in a statement.

American troops entered the Shiite enclave in search of militants suspected of helping Iranian terror networks fund operations in Iraq, the U.S. military said.

Riding in armored vehicles, U.S. soldiers “used proper escalation of force rules to engage four civilian vehicles,” the statement said. It did not elaborate as to whether any of those killed were in the civilian cars.

According to Iraqi officials, the dead included three members of one family – a father, mother and son. Houses, a bakery and some other shops were damaged by fire from U.S. tanks during the operation, Iraqi officials said.