Ishaqi (also known as "Al Ishaqi") () is a small town in the Balad District of the

Saladin Governorate The Saladin, Salah ad Din, or Salah Al-Din Governorate (, ) is one of Iraq's 19 governorates, north of Baghdad. It has an area of , with an estimated population of 1,042,200 people in 2003. It is made up of 8 districts, with the capital being T ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, about 60 miles (96 km) north of

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

War crimes

1st 2006 incident

In March 2006 Iraqi police reported that American troops had executed 11 people in Ishaqi after capturing them in a raid, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old baby. New footage of the event's aftermath was released in June 2006, sparking an investigation of the event. The US forces were later cleared of wrongdoing by a US military probe, sparking protests from the Iraqi government, who vowed to continue their own investigation.

2nd 2006 incident

In December 2006 the US military conducted an air raid on Ishaqi. U.S.-led coalition forces said they were looking through several buildings near

Lake Tharthar Lake Tharthar (also Therthar), and known in Iraq as Buhayrat ath-Tharthar (), is an artificial lake created in 1956, situated 100 kilometers (62 mi) northwest of Baghdad between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. History In 1956, the southern ...

in the province of Salah ad Din when

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

-linked militants launched an attack. The U.S. military then said coalition troops returned fire, killing two of the insurgents. As the firefight continued, troops called in the air strikes. The U.S. military said 20 Al-Qaeda insurgents, including two women, were killed in the raid.Topic Galleries - chicagotribune.com
/ref> Local officials in Jalameda claimed there were actually 17 victims and that they included five men, six women, and five children. Locals of the area claiming to be relatives showed the children's bodies to journalists.{{Cite web , url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20902889-23109,00.html , title=Villagers bury US 'massacre' victims , access-date=2006-12-10 , archive-date=2016-03-22 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322053012/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nocookies , url-status=dead Al Jazeera claimed to have exclusive footage that confirms children were among the victims of the US air raid.Al Jazeera English – News – Photos Confirm Us Raid Child Deaths
/ref> Iraqi reaction included mourners firing into the air overnight as they buried the victims of the raid. Hundreds of chanting residents of Jalameda marched through Ishaqi overnight firing shots and carrying banners that read: "The people of Ishaqi condemn the mass killing by the occupation forces". Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the biggest

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

political bloc in parliament, said, "We ask the Americans to be merciful. They kill civilians alleging they are terrorists. Ishaqi is a catastrophe." The

Agence France Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

news agency passed its own photographs of the dead children to Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman, asking for an explanation on the latest allegations. Garver replied, "We've checked with the troops who conducted this operation - there were no children found among the terrorists killed." Garver continued, "I see nothing in the photos that indicates those children were in the houses that our forces received fire from and subsequently destroyed with the air strike."

War crimes

1st 2006 incident

2nd 2006 incident

References

See also