A local Iraqi police chief on Thursday accused the U.S. military of killing seven Iraqi civilians, including at least one child, in a helicopter strike in northern Iraq.
The U.S. military said the adults were members of a bombing network but added that two children were killed.
Wednesday’s incident, the latest in a series of strikes that have injured or killed civilians, could raise tensions between the U.S. military and Sunni Arab tribesmen who have become allies in the fight against militants loyal to Al Qaeda in Iraq.
It came as U.S. officials were seeking to soothe local anger over the actions of a soldier who used a Quran for target practice. The abuse of Islam’s holy book drew apologies this week from senior U.S. military commanders and the president.
The strike also came as a television station linked to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party accused U.S. snipers of killing one of its cameramen during clashes Wednesday in east Baghdad. The military said all those killed that day were militants.
Col. Mudhir Qaisi, the police chief in Beiji, an oil-refining town just north of where the helicopter attack occurred, said he had been in constant contact with U.S. forces on Thursday.
“We told the Americans that we went through very hard times to create good relations between the three sides — U.S. forces, civilians and local police — and incidents like this one will definitely threaten these relations,” Qaisi said.
Col. Jerry O’Hara, a military spokesman, said the U.S.-led force in Iraq “sincerely regrets the injury of any innocent civilians and condemns those terrorists who place civilians recklessly in harm’s way.”
Qaisi said the victims were Sunni farmers traveling in a minivan in the Mizari region. A relative of the dead, Fulaiyh Shimmari, said the family had gathered in the evening after receiving word that one of their members was about to be freed from U.S. custody.
“We saw the U.S. Humvees surrounding the houses of our family, and then U.S. choppers dropped soldiers on the gathering of cars and people,” Shimmari said by telephone. “The guests and relatives panicked. Some of them fled on foot like me to their houses, and others took their cars and escaped.”
Shimmari said three of the seven people in the vehicle targeted by the helicopter were killed, including the child. Four other people on foot were shot and killed as they fled, he said.
The military said that the occupants of the vehicle had “exhibited hostile intent” and that U.S. forces tried to detain them using non-lethal force, including firing three warning shots, before engaging the vehicle.
