U.S. army deplores civilian casualties in Missan operation – spokesman

MISSAN / IraqiNews.com: The U.S. forces deplore civilian casualties in the Missan security operation conducted by a combined U.S.-Iraqi force, according to an official spokesman for the U.S. army in southern Iraq on Saturday. “U.S. forces regret the civilian casualties in the village of al-Fujaijat, Ali al-Sharqi district. Our objective is not at all to harm local residents but rather to enforce the law and spread security and stability in the province of Missan,” Maj. Miles told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The raid carried out during the early ours of Friday in the district of Ali al-Sharqi, (60 km north of al-Amara), was conducted by Iraqi and U.S. forces. The U.S. side was composed of a few group of advisors,” he said. Miles added that the objective of the mission was to carry out arrest warrants against a number of wanted persons in the villages that belong to Ali al-Gharbi district, (100 km north of Amara), and the raiding force managed to arrest 22 wanted persons and seize a cache of munitions. The Missan provincial council had convened an extraordinary session on Friday after 10 people were killed, five wounded and 12 others detained. The council decided that an ad hoc commission would be set up to investigate the incident. Amara Mayor Rafie Abduljabbar had told IraqiNews.com on Friday that U.S. forces raided al-Fujaijat village during the small hours of Friday and killed 10 local residents, wounded five and detained 12 others. Amara, the capital city of Missan province, lies 390 km south of Baghdad. AmR (S) 4