BAGHDAD, October 31, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At least 40 Iraqis were killed in a US air strike near Iraq’s border with Syria at dawn Monday, October 31, against what the occupation army called an "Al-Qaeda cell leader".
The raid struck four civilian houses in the village of Al-Biba near the war-battered town of Al-Qaim, locals told Al-Jazeera television.
They said most of the victims were refugees from the adjacent town of Hasiba, which came under a ferocious US attack earlier.
A doctor at Al-Qaim hospital told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone he had heard reports that 35 people were killed in the raid on two houses.
"It is hard to transport bodies to the hospital because bridges over the Euphrates River are blocked (by US troops) and the few boats available were used to carry the wounded," said Dr. Ali Al-Ani.
The US army, however, denied that civilians were targeted in the raid, saying that it targeted an Al-Qaeda hideout.
“A senior Al-Qaeda cell leader was the target of the strike,” Major Flora Lee told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The timing of the attack and use of precision-guided munitions is intended to avoid civilian casualties.”
The region has been the scene of sweeping US offensives since November of last year.
The US army argues that the incursions are aimed at stopping the infiltration of foreign fighters and terrorists through Iraq’s porous borders with its neighbors.
In May, more than 1,000 US Marines launched a week-long offensive on the town of Al-Qaim on claims of searching for followers of Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq.
Hundreds of Iraqi families have fled the town to escape the US attacks.
In November, 10,000 US marines and army forces, alongside some 2,000 Iraqi national guard soldiers unleashed a long anticipated onslaught on the town.
Six Soldiers Killed
On the other hand, six US soldiers were killed in two separate bomb explosions Monday in Iraq, the military said.
Four died when their patrol struck an improvised explosive device in the Yusufiyah district, in southwest Baghdad.
And two were killed in an explosion while on patrol near Anaconda base, on the outskirts of Balad, 75 kilometers (45 miles) north of the capital.
Their death bring to at least 2,020 the number of US military personnel killed in the Iraq operation since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally.