The Ishaqi massacre refers to the reported

mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...

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 ...

civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

s allegedly committed by

United States forces United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

in the town of Ishaqi on 15 March 2006. After the massacre,

Iraqi police The Iraqi Police (IP) is the uniformed police force responsible for the enforcement of civil law in Iraq. Its organisation, structure and recruitment were guided by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, ...

accused the US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people, including five children and four women, before blowing up their house. A

US military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

spokesman at the time responded that it was "highly unlikely that he allegationswere true". US authorities said US troops were involved in a firefight after a tip-off that an

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 ...

supporter was visiting the house. According to the Americans, the building collapsed under heavy fire, killing four people—a suspect, two women, and a child. Leaked diplomatic cables in 2011 revealed that

Philip Alston Philip Geoffrey Alston is an Australian international law scholar and human rights practitioner. He is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, and co-chair of the law school's Center for Human Rights and Globa ...

, United Nations special rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, immediately raised questions about the incident. In June 2006, the US indicated they were re-investigating the incident, after the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

obtained a tape from "a hardline

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 ...

group" that appeared to contain evidence supporting the allegations of the Iraqi police. The investigation found that US military personnel had followed the proper procedures and rules of engagement and were not guilty of misconduct. The

Iraqi government The government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as a democratic, parliamentary republic with Islam as the official state religion. The government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branche ...

immediately rejected the results of the US probe, stating they would continue investigating.Brian Brady
''Furious Iraq demands apology as US troops are cleared of massacre''
, ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'', June 4, 2006 Immediately after the US investigation was closed, the Iraqi government responded by opening an investigation, with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki aide Adnan al-Kazimi stating that the US report "was not fair for the Iraqi people and the children who were killed." In September 2011, the Iraqi government reopened its investigation after WikiLeaks published a leaked diplomatic cable in which

, United Nations special rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, appeared to support the version of events given by residents in Ishaqi. Alston cabled the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

a few weeks after the incident. Alston stated that US forces handcuffed and executed the residents of a house on 15 March 2006. The residents included five children under 5 years of age. Autopsies later confirmed that "all the corpses were shot in the head and handcuffed".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishaqi Incident Massacres of the Iraq War 2006 murders in Iraq Iraq War crimes by the United States Iraq–United States relations Massacres committed by the United States Massacres in 2006 Saladin Governorate in the Iraq War 2006 in international relations March 2006 in Iraq March 2006 crimes in Asia Extrajudicial killings in Iraq Cover-ups

See also

References