By IRNA
Baghdad : US military said on Monday that they had accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians and wounded three in a strike aimed at al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia south of Baghdad.
A military statement released late Sunday acknowledged what appeared to be one of the deadliest cases of mistaken identity in recent weeks.
“The accidental killings happened Saturday in Iskandariya, about 25 miles south of the capital, and that the wounded were taken to American military hospitals,” it said.
IRNA reporter in Baghdad said that the statement did not further identify the civilian victims, but the Iraqi police said the US aircraft, responding to an attack on an American convoy, had erroneously bombed Iraqi civilian guardsmen who have contracted with the American military to fight al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia.