Seven Iraqis have been killed and 34 wounded when US forces attacked suspected Al-Mahdi Army positions in the southern city of Kut as the governor warns of air strikes
Seven Iraqis have been killed and 34 wounded when US forces attacked suspected Al-Mahdi Army positions in the southern city of Kut as the governor warns of air strikes if fresh violence breaks out.
A woman was among six people killed and 20 wounded when US shells hit the Izzat district on the Tigris River, said the chief of Kut's general hospital on Friday.
"The Americans also hit an Iraqi National Guard post by mistake in the al-Haidariya neighbourhood, killing one guardsman and wounding 14 others at around 0200 (2200 GMT)," he said.
Also on Friday, the governor of Kut, Muhammad Ridha al-Jashami, warned of renewed air strikes by US occupation forces in case fresh violence broke out or if curfew orders were disobeyed.
"We call upon citizens to be committed to the curfew that will
be imposed from 2100 (1700 GMT) until 0600 (0200 GMT) and those who will not obey it will be subjected to air strikes," the governor said in a statement which was read out over loudspeakers in mosques.
Civilians killed
Heavy US bombardment of Kut on Wednesday killed 75 people and wounded 150, one day after clashes between police and Shia fighters in the southern Iraqi city, a Health Ministry official said.
Many of the dead and wounded were women and children, said Kut hospital director, Khadir Fadl Arar.