Ishaqi incident

The Ishaqi incident refers to the reported mass murder of Iraqi civilians allegedly committed by United States forces in the town of Ishaqi in March 2006. After the incident, Iraqi police accused the US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people, including five children and four women, before blowing up their house. A US military spokesman at the time responded that it was "highly unlikely that [the allegations] were true".[1] US authorities said they were involved in a firefight after a tip-off that an al-Qaeda cell leader, Ahmad Abdallah Muhammad Na'is al-Utaybi, was visiting the house. According to the Americans, the building collapsed under heavy fire, killing four people—a suspect, two women and a child.[2]

The incident immediately raised questions by U.N. investigators as revealed by diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.[3] In June 2006 the US indicated they were re-investigating the incident,[4] after the BBC obtained a tape from "a hardline Sunni group" that appeared to contain evidence supporting the allegations of the Iraqi police.[2] The investigation found, on June 2, 2006 that US military personnel had followed the proper procedures and rules of engagement, and that they had done nothing wrong.[5] The Iraqi government immediately rejected the results of the US probe, stating they would continue their own investigation.[6]

Iraqi government response

Immediately after the US investigation was closed the Iraqi government responded by opening their own investigation, with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki aide Adnan al-Kazimi stating that the US report "was not fair for the Iraqi people and the children who were killed."[7] In September 2011, the Iraqi government reopened their investigation after WikiLeaks published a leaked diplomatic cable regarding questions about the raid made by U.N. inspector Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions.[8]

See also

References
  1. Schofield, Matthew (March 19, 2006). "Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops". Knight Ridder Newspapers. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-01.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. "New 'Iraq massacre' tape emerges". BBC News. June 1, 2006. Archived from the original on June 2, 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
  3. "WikiLeaks reveals Atrocities by US forces". Daily Mirror. September 1, 2011. Archived from the original on November 1, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  4. US probes new Iraq massacre claim Archived 2006-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, June 2, 2006
  5. "Troops cleared in Iraqi deaths in Ishaqi". Reuters. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
  6. Brian Brady, Furious Iraq demands apology as US troops are cleared of massacre Archived 2006-06-20 at the Wayback Machine, The Scotsman, June 4, 2006
  7. Jones, Holly (June 3, 2006). "Iraq denounces outcome of US Ishaqi probe, plans own investigation". Jurist. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  8. Gowen, Annie; Asaad Majeed (September 2, 2011). "Iraq to reopen probe of deadly 2006 Ishaqi raid". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2011.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.