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U.S. airstrikes target two insurgent threats

By WASHINGTON POST
Published March 4, 2007

BAGHDAD - Several al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents who had targeted U.S. helicopters were killed in an airstrike north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Saturday. A second strike killed members of another al-Qaida cell that has orchestrated car bombings.

The first air assault, conducted Friday near Taji, north of Baghdad, destroyed trucks mounted with antiaircraft guns in an area where several American helicopters have been shot down in recent weeks.

"Coalition forces believe key terrorists were killed during the airstrike," the military said in a statement.

Military authorities were still investigating the identities of the gunmen and how many were killed as of Saturday evening.

At least eight U.S. helicopters have crashed or been shot down since January, and U.S. officials have ordered a re-evaluation of how troops are moved around in an increasingly hostile war zone.

The second airstrike destroyed a car bomb factory in southern Baghdad, killing seven people inside, the U.S. military said, adding that "this cell is responsible for a large and devastating number" of attacks in the capital.

The military also said that an Iraqi detainee died Friday at an U.S.-run prison from "injuries sustained after being assaulted from other detainees." The death is under investigation.

In U.S. raids north of Baghdad, nine suspected insurgents were captured, including two believed to be responsible for recruiting and helping foreign militants in Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The suspects were also accused of harboring al-Qaida in Iraq leaders, it said, but gave no further details.

Meanwhile, Spc. Daniel E. Turner of Arkansas was convicted Monday in Baghdad of negligent homicide for the shooting death of a fellow guardsman in Iraq, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Saturday. He was sentenced to 15 months in a military prison. The circumstances surrounding the death of Spc. Derek Plowman, 20, of Everton, Ark., have not been released, and the Defense Department did not immediately return a message Saturday.

Information from the New York Times and Associated Press was used in this report.

[Last modified March 4, 2007, 00:56:42]