Baghdad, Iraq – A U.S. airstrike guided by a remote-controlled surveillance plane killed at least six members of a household in a volatile Sunni Arab area of northern Iraq on Monday night, several witnesses said, angering some Sunni leaders.
A statement released by the U.S. military said cameras on the unmanned aircraft showed three men digging a hole beside a road Monday night, an activity seen as preparation for planting a bomb. The drone followed the men to a nearby house in the town of Baiji, about 125 miles north of Baghdad.
Manned aircraft swooped in about an hour and a half later, hitting the house with guided munitions, the statement said.
Drone aircraft, some armed with missiles, are being used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan to spot targets. Videotape from the planes’ cameras is monitored from remote stations in Iraq, at other bases in the Middle East, and at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
Area residents reported that at least six members of an extended family were killed and three were rescued in the airstrike. The head of the household, Gadban Hussein, was in critical condition after having all four limbs amputated, a local hospital spokesman said in a telephone interview.
“I don’t think he will make it overnight,” the spokesman said.
The dead included three of Hussein’s sons and a daughter, all high school students, and his wife, the witnesses said. Another son and the son’s wife also were seriously injured.
Baiji car salesman Nahi Mohammed said he believes a curfew may have prevented rescuers from saving some of the victims.
“We had to wait until morning,” he said by telephone. “We’d have saved those kids if we had the opportunity.”
Sunni leaders condemned the attack for causing the “bloodshed of innocent children” and accused the U.S. of conducting terrorism.
The statement released by the military said the drone, operated by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, “observed the would-be attackers as they dug a hole following the common pattern of roadside bomb emplacement. The individuals were assessed as posing a threat to Iraqi civilians and coalition forces.”
Elsewhere, unrest continued across Iraq on Tuesday, as the sister of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr was reported abducted in an affluent neighborhood, and a member of the Baghdad City Council was killed by gunmen.
