- BAGHDAD (IPS) - An eyewitness
commentary to IPS through a U.S. raid on a Baghdad mosque Friday gives
a vivid picture of what a 'successful raid' can be like.
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- U.S. soldiers raided the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad
during Friday prayers, killing at least four and wounding up to 20
worshippers.
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- At 12:30 pm local time, just after Imam Shaikh Muayid
al-Adhami concluded his talk, about 50 U.S. soldiers with 20 Iraqi National
Guardsmen (ING) entered the mosque, a witness reported.
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- "Everyone was there for Friday prayers, when five
Humvees and several trucks carrying INGs entered," Abu Talat told
IPS on phone from within the mosque while the raid was in progress.
"Everyone
starting yelling 'Allahu Akbar' (God is the greatest) because they were
frightened. Then the soldiers started shooting the people
praying!"
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- Talat said he was among a crowd of worshippers being
held back at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers. Loud chanting of 'Allahu Akbar'
could be heard in the background during his call. Women and children were
sobbing, he said.
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- "They have just shot and killed at least four of
the people praying," he said in a panicked voice. "At least 10
other people are wounded now. We are on our bellies and in a very bad
situation."
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- Talat gave his account over short phone calls. He said
he was witnessing a horrific scene.
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- "We were here praying and now there are 50 here
with their guns on us," he said. "They are holding our heads
to the ground, and everyone is in chaos. This is the worst situation
possible.
They cannot see me talking to you. They are roughing up a blind man
now."
He evidently could talk no further then.
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- The soldiers later released women and children along
with men who were related to them. Abu Talat was released because a boy
told him to pretend to be his father.
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- Other witnesses gave similar accounts outside the mosque.
"People were praying and the Americans invaded the mosque,"
Abdulla
Ra'ad Aziz from the al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad told IPS. He had been
released along with his wife and children. "Why are they killing
people
for praying?" He said that after the forces entered "they went
to the back doors and we heard so many bullets of the guns -- it was a
gun bigger than a Kalashnikov. There were wounded and dead, I saw them
myself."
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- Some of the people who had been at prayer were ordered
by soldiers to carry the dead and wounded out of the mosque, he
said.
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- "One Iraqi National Guardsmen held his gun on people
and yelled, 'I will kill you if you don't shut up'," said Rana Aziz,
a mother who had been trapped in the mosque.. "So they made everyone
lie down, then people got quiet, and they took the women and children
out."
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- She said someone asked the soldiers if they would be
made hostages. A soldier used foul language and asked everyone to shut
up, she said. Suddenly, she laughed amid her tears. "The Americans
have learnt how to say shut up in Arabic, 'Inchev'."
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- Soldiers denied Iraqi Red Crescent ambulances and medical
teams access to the mosque. As doctors negotiated with U.S. soldiers
outside,
more gunfire was heard from inside.
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- About 30 men were led out with hoods over their heads
and their hands tied behind them. Soldiers loaded them into a military
vehicle and took them away around 3.15 pm.
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- A doctor with the Iraqi Red Crescent confirmed four dead
and nine wounded worshippers. Pieces of brain were splattered on one of
the walls inside the mosque while large blood stains covered carpets at
several places.
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- A U.S. military spokesperson in Baghdad did not respond
to requests for information on the raid.
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- http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news
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