Us Forces raid mosque during prayers; 4 killed.

[POA]

IRAQ:
As U.S. Forces Raided a Mosque

Dahr Jamail

An eyewitness commentary to IPS through a U.S. raid on a Baghdad mosque Friday gives a vivid picture of what a 'successful raid' can be like: at least four worshippers dead and 20 wounded in what was a 'horrific scene'.

BAGHDAD, Nov 19 (IPS) - An eyewitness commentary to IPS through a U.S. raid on a Baghdad mosque Friday gives a vivid picture of what a 'successful raid' can be like.

U.S. soldiers raided the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad during Friday prayers, killing at least four and wounding up to 20 worshippers.

At 12:30 pm local time, just after Imam Shaikh Muayid al-Adhami concluded his talk, about 50 U.S. soldiers with 20 Iraqi National Guardsmen (ING) entered the mosque, a witness reported.

”Everyone was there for Friday prayers, when five Humvees and several trucks carrying INGs entered,” Abu Talat told IPS on phone from within the mosque while the raid was in progress. ”Everyone starting yelling 'Allahu Akbar' (God is the greatest) because they were frightened. Then the soldiers started shooting the people praying!”<br>
Talat said he was among a crowd of worshippers being held back at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers. Loud chanting of 'Allahu Akbar' could be heard in the background during his call. Women and children were sobbing, he said.

”They have just shot and killed at least four of the people praying,” he said in a panicked voice. ”At least 10 other people are wounded now. We are on our bellies and in a very bad situation.”<br>
Talat gave his account over short phone calls. He said he was witnessing a horrific scene.

”We were here praying and now there are 50 here with their guns on us,” he said. ”They are holding our heads to the ground, and everyone is in chaos. This is the worst situation possible. They cannot see me talking to you. They are roughing up a blind man now.” He evidently could talk no further then.

The soldiers later released women and children along with men who were related to them. Abu Talat was released because a boy told him to pretend to be his father.

Other witnesses gave similar accounts outside the mosque. ”People were praying and the Americans invaded the mosque,” Abdulla Ra'ad Aziz from the al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad told IPS. He had been released along with his wife and children. ”Why are they killing people for praying?” He said that after the forces entered ”they went to the back doors and we heard so many bullets of the guns -- it was a gun bigger than a Kalashnikov. There were wounded and dead, I saw them myself.”<br>
Some of the people who had been at prayer were ordered by soldiers to carry the dead and wounded out of the mosque, he said.

”One Iraqi National Guardsmen held his gun on people and yelled, 'I will kill you if you don't shut up',” said Rana Aziz, a mother who had been trapped in the mosque.. ”So they made everyone lie down, then people got quiet, and they took the women and children out.”<br>
She said someone asked the soldiers if they would be made hostages. A soldier used foul language and asked everyone to shut up, she said. Suddenly, she laughed amid her tears. ”The Americans have learnt how to say shut up in Arabic, 'Inchev'.”<br>
Soldiers denied Iraqi Red Crescent ambulances and medical teams access to the mosque. As doctors negotiated with U.S. soldiers outside, more gunfire was heard from inside.

About 30 men were led out with hoods over their heads and their hands tied behind them. Soldiers loaded them into a military vehicle and took them away around 3.15 pm.

A doctor with the Iraqi Red Crescent confirmed four dead and nine wounded worshippers. Pieces of brain were splattered on one of the walls inside the mosque while large blood stains covered carpets at several places.

A U.S. military spokesperson in Baghdad did not respond to requests for information on the raid. (END)

[Moses]

No no no. You have it wrong. IRAQI Forces raided a Sunni mosque, BACKED by US forces AFTER Friday Prayers. See Reuters story by Archibald MacDonald in "Breaking News" section on Mosque raid thread.

[Moses]

NYTimes: (note their category, "Insurgents")
www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/international/middleeast/20iraq.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=

November 20, 2004
INSURGENTS

G.I.'s and Iraqis Raid Mosque, Killing 3
By JAMES GLANZ and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 19 - American and Iraqi troops raided a prominent Sunni mosque in Baghdad on Friday, killing at least three Iraqis in an operation that may have been aimed at a cleric said to have incited insurgent violence.

[Their next paragraph switches to beheadings in Mosul-- then they go on:]

At the mosque, called Abu Hanifa, blood was splattered on the floor after what witnesses described as a chaotic raid in which Iraqi soldiers opened fire after becoming involved in a melee with enraged worshipers.

American military officials either did not respond to requests for comment on the incident or said they had no information on it. But on Thursday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said imams who incited violence would be arrested.

At the time of the raid, said Louay Ibrahim, an Iraqi police officer who was praying there, the imam at the mosque was giving a sermon that urged his audience to make Mosul and other Iraqi cities into embattled places "like Falluja."

The mosque gained some notoriety in April 2003, when Saddam Hussein stood atop a car to greet supporters in what would be his last public appearance in Baghdad until his capture by American troops eight months later.

[The Times then goes for several paragraphs on to describe activities in Mosul and then resumes:]

In Baghdad, the head of Al Iraqiya, the American-financed television network, was reported by news agencies to have resigned, citing wasteful budget decisions and a lack of control over programming. The raid on Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad took place around noon, said Amer Hamid, 65, who had been shot in the face and was being treated with several other Iraqis at the Shadeed Adnan Hospital. He said that when he finished praying, he went outside and saw a melee between worshipers and Iraqi and American soldiers.

Shots rang out, and the Americans set off what witnesses described as a "noise bomb," an amplified blasting sound intended to intimidate people or frighten them away. Then Mr. Hamid was shot in the face.

A friend of his who declined to give his name said that the Iraqi soldiers had shouted to people in the mosque to sit down and keep quiet, that the worshippers had resisted and that shots were then fired.

Mr. Ibrahim, the Iraqi policeman who was in mosque, said that he had asked the Iraqi soldiers to show their permission to carry out the raid and that one had shouted: "Shut up! We have our operations, you have yours." Mr. Ibrahim, who was shot in the arm, said the Iraqi soldiers had fired.

One cleric on the scene was weeping after what he said was rough treatment by the Iraqi national guardsmen. He showed the red imprint of a boot sole on his side. The treads and even the faint outline of the number 42 - apparently the shoe size - were visible.

Mussab Abdul Wahab, a doctor on the scene, said that three people died after being shot in the head at the mosque, and that nine had been seriously wounded. One dead body and four wounded Iraqis were at the Adnan Hospital. Shortly after 1 p.m., Iraqi and American soldiers could still be seen inside the mosque.

The soldiers repeatedly asked after the whereabouts of the imam who had been sermonizing before the raid, witnesses said, and they confiscated papers, computer disks and other items.


James Glanz reported from Baghdad for this article, and Richard A. Oppel Jr. from Mosul. Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, andIraqi employees of The NewYork Times contributed reporting fromMosul, Baghdad and Baquba.