US Forces Attack Iraqi Allies, Killing At Least 6

This is becoming more and more common when you would think that our wonderful training of Iraqi forces, combined with increased US experience, would make it less likely.

One Sunni militia leader in the area said the men who were killed had been staffing a legitimate checkpoint. But the American military command for northern Iraq said the Apache helicopter fired on men who had appeared to be trying to bury a roadside bomb.

“American forces said that the people they killed were gunmen, but they were my men, and they were even wearing Awakening uniforms,” said Abu Farouk, a leader of pro-American Awakening militia forces near Samarra. American military officials acknowledged that six people were killed by an Apache helicopter, but they rejected the account provided by the Iraqi police official and Abu Farouk.

The military said it could not confirm whether or not the six men had been part of a pro-American militia. But the military said the helicopter had attacked “suspected I.E.D. emplacers” after they were spotted “conducting suspicious terrorist activity in an area historically known for improvised explosive device emplacement.”