US Air Strike in Baghdad Kills 14

6 September 2007

Baghdad: A US air strike on a Baghdad neighbourhood overnight killed 14 people and demolished several houses, the police said on Thursday.

US military spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment.

Two police sources said the air strike took place at about 3 a.m. in the Washash neighbourhood, a stronghold of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, in western Baghdad's Mansour district.

Police said nine people were wounded in the attack, which one official said destroyed five houses.

The US military has launched a series of operations, including air strikes against what it calls rogue elements of the Mehdi Army. It says many of these "special groups" have links to Iran, which it says is supply weapons and training, a charge Tehran denies.

Sadr last week ordered the Mehdi Army to suspend its operations for six months in what was seen as a move to restore his authority over the militia, which US officials say has fractured into splinter groups that do not obey him.