[Marinir] [KCM] Militer AS Akui Salah Sasaran Bom di Irak

[YapHongGie]

http://www.kompas.com/utama/news/0501/09/103251.htm

Updated: Minggu, 09 Januari 2005, 10:32 WIB
NASIONAL
Militer AS Akui Salah Sasaran Bom di Irak
Baghdad, Minggu

Militer Amerika Serikat (AS) di Irak mengakui pihaknya telah salah sasaran
dalam operasi pemboman dengan pesawat-pesawat F-16, Sabtu (8/1),
menyebabkan lima orang tewas.

"Selama pencarian seorang tersangka pemimpin pemberontak yang dilakukan
AD AS, sebuah F-16 telah menjatuhkan bom di atas sebuah rumah di utara
kota utama, Mosul," kata militer AS dalam pernyataannya, Sabtu.
Insiden terjadi di Desa al-Aitha, di perbatasan antara Provinsi Salahuddin
dan Provinsi Nineveh. Militer AS menambahkan rumah tersebut bukan sasaran
serangan karena sasaran yang seharusnya tidak jauh. "Multinasional di Irak
sangat menyesalkan hilangnya jiwa orang-orang tak bersalah," kata seorang
jurubicara militer AS yang menambahkan korban tewas lima orang.

Lima orang yang tewas tersebut terhantam sebuah bom diberi alat pelacak
Laser seberat 500 pon (berkisar 250kg). Operasi pemboman itu dilancarkan
sebagai bagian dari operasi pembersihan menjelang pemilu Irak pada 30
Januari mendatang.
Namun, seorang pejabat Irak lokal yang tidak ingin identitasnya diungkapkan
mengatakan, jumlah korban tewas mencapai belasan orang, termasuk empat
wanita dan tiga anak-anak yang berasal dari satu keluarga yang sama.
Sedangkan awak televisi Reuters yang memasuki kawasan tempat pemboman
terjadi membuat gambar-gambar dari 14 kuburan baru.
Bom bunuh diri
Seorang pelaku bom bunuh diri meledakkan kendaraannya di pompa bensin
dekat tempat pemeriksaan di selatan Baghdad hari Sabtu, menewaskan empat
warga sipil dan mencederai 19 orang yang lain, kata polisi.
Polisi mengatakan umumnya mereka yang tewas sedang antri di sebuah pompa
bensin di desa Mahaweel, sekitar 80 kilometer selatan Baghdad yang dipenuhi
orang di tengah-tengah kekurangan bahan bakar.
Ledakan itu merusakkan sedikitnya tiga mobil namun tidak melukai polisi atau
tentara yang sibuk melakukan pemeriksaan tak jauh dari jalan tersebut.
Polisi mengatakan bahwa yang menjadi target ledakan itu tampaknya pompa
bensin, meski motif serangan itu belum jelas.
Kelompok anti-Barat kerap menyerang polisi dan tentara Irak yang menuduh
kelompok itu bekerja sama dengan pasukan kendali AS. Kelompok itu juga
menginginkan pasukan asing keluar dari Irak.

Dalam perkembangan lain, AS sekarang ini menahan 325 petempur asing di Irak,
beberapa dari mereka dapat dipindahkan keluar dari negara itu untuk
penahanan tak tentu di tempat lain, lapor New York Times, Sabtu.
Jumlah petempur bukan-Irak yang tertangkap di Irak bertanbah 140 dalam dua
bulan terakhir, kata seorang pejabat Pentagon pada harian itu. Banyak yang
tertangkap di atau sekitar Fallujah, kata pejabat itu. Sebagaimana tawanan
Taliban dan Al-Qaidah, petempur asing yang ditangkap di Irak tidak
dilindungi oleh Konvensi Jenewa, menurut pendapat pemerintah AS.
Banyak dari tawanan itu yang diduga memiliki hubungan dengan Al-Qaidah dan
beberapa dapat dipindahkan keluar dari Irak untuk penahanan di tempat lain,
kata seorang pejabAt pemerintah Bush.
Namun para pejabat pemerintah sekarang ini sedang berjuang untuk mengajukan
sebuah rencana jangka-panjang bagi ratusan tawanan yang telah ditahan di
Guantanamo Bay, Kuba dan di Afghanistan, kata Times. (Rtr/AFP/Ant/Edj)

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/09/iraq.main/index.html

Coalition forces bomb house near Mosul
Neighbors: Building exploded minutes after raid by U.S. forces
Sunday, January 9, 2005 Posted: 5:32 AM EST (1032 GMT)

People survey a house south of Mosul that, they say, was bombed in a U.S.
air attack. The military is investigating.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) --
At least five people were killed when a coalition F-16 bombed the wrong
target south of Mosul, Iraq, the U.S. military said Saturday.
U.S.-led multinational forces were searching for an insurgent cell leader
and targeted a house, which was struck by a 500-pound bomb, the military
said in a statement. The correct target was nearby, the military said.

Witnesses told CNN that U.S. forces raided the house in the village of
A'ytya. The witnesses reported hearing screams coming from the vicinity of
the house, and then the forces left. Minutes later, the house exploded, they
said.
Fourteen people lived in the house, neighbors said.
"(The) Multi-National Force-Iraq deeply regrets the loss of possibly
innocent lives," the statement said.
Mosul has been a site of repeated violence in recent weeks. When the U.S.
military launched an offensive in Falluja in November, there was concern
that insurgents had fled to Mosul and would launch attacks from there.

The military recently conducted an offensive against insurgents in Mosul,
but the violence has continued.
Friday night, gunmen abducted four public officials from Salah Ad Din
province, according to a 1st Infantry Division spokesman.
The public officials were in two vehicles, coming from the southern city of
Najaf, when gunmen attempted to stop them, Maj. Neal O'Brien said.
One of the cars escaped.
Only three officials have been identified. They are Khataan Hamada, Salah Ad
Din Provincial Council chairman; Ali Ghalib, assistant governor for
technical affairs; and Amar Aaiash, dean of the Tikrit University College of
Law.
The abductions are the latest in a recent string of violence.

Attacks have claimed the lives of Baghdad's provincial governor; the
security chief for Iraq's Independent Election Commission in Diyala
province; the deputy director for the Iraqi Islamic Party in Mosul; along
with U.S. soldiers and scores of Iraqi police and civilians.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered a review of the security
situation in Iraq amid concerns over the elections scheduled for January 30.
Rumsfeld asked a retired four-star general to conduct the review, a senior
Pentagon official said.
Iraqi voters are expected to choose a 275-member transitional national
assembly. That body will put together a permanent constitution that will go
before voters in a referendum. If approved, the plan calls for elections for
a permanent government.

Former Iraqi Governing Council President Adnan Pachachi said Saturday that
interim Iraqi leaders should "enter into a serious dialogue" with opposition
factions and he again called for the elections to be postponed.
Pachachi, a prominent Sunni politician, leads a group called the Independent
Democratic Gathering, which has members on the ballot.
"The main thing is to have an inclusive election," he said. "If large
segments of the population are left out, if there is a very low turnout in
these troubled areas compared to high turnout in others because of the
proportional representation system, they will not be legitimate."
Pachachi said he had been against an election postponement until late
November when he and 15 Iraqi political parties called for a delay. The
parties said there was insufficient time to prepare, campaign and create a
secure environment for balloting.

Other developments
Two Iraqi police officers and three civilians were shot and killed Saturday
at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, according to Interior Ministry spokesman
Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman. Eyewitnesses blamed U.S. soldiers for the deaths,
saying the troops indiscriminately fired into the crowd after their convoy
was hit by a roadside bomb near the al-Doura checkpoint, about 6 miles
(10km) south of baghdad. Rahman could not independently confirm the
eyewitnesses' account. The U.S. military had no information about the
incident, saying they had not received any reports of convoys hit by
roadside bombs in the al-Doura area.

U.S. soldiers Saturday morning discovered the bodies of three men near
Samarra, blindfolded with hands bound, and identified one as a Baghdad
police officer, according to a U.S. military news release. All three
sustained several gunshot wounds to the face. Iraqi police have been
notified and are on site. The other two bodies had no identification.
Samarra, located at the northern end of the Sunni triangle, is a city where
former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has had a lot of support.

On Saturday, the Iraqi Council of Ministers announced the capture of Izz
al-Dine al-Majid, a one-time bodyguard and second cousin to former Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein. Al-Majid was picked up during a raid in Falluja in
early December, the statement said. He is also a cousin of Ali Hassan
al-Majid, the Iraqi general known as "Chemical Ali," who is in U.S. custody.

The U.S. military is investigating an explosion that shut down an oil
pipeline early Friday a few miles north of Tikrit, a military spokesman
said. The explosion took place about 6 miles (10 kilometers) north of
Saddam's hometown. The fire was still burning hours later. A spokesman for
the Army's 1st Infantry Division said sabotage is suspected, but no suspects
have been arrested.
CNN's Cal Perry contributed to this report.