Iraq says deadly raid on Syria targeted rebel area
2008-10-27

Category Al Qaeda Nations Iraq Israel Lebanon Syria City Baghdad States Anbar Province Category Regions Regions Asia Middle East People Jalal Talabani George W. Bush Event Second Gulf War Source (AFP)

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq said on Monday a deadly raid on Syria was targeting an area used by insurgents plotting attacks on its soil, as Damascus protested about what it branded a cold-blooded war crime by US forces.

"Iraq is in contact with the American side about reports regarding the attack along the frontier with Syria. This region is a theatre of insurgent activities against Iraq using Syria as a launch pad," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

He said Baghdad was also asking Damascus to extradite members of an unnamed group it accused of killing 19 Iraqi security guards in a recent attack.

In Syria, the official press said Sunday's attack -- which the authorities say left eight civilians dead -- was a "war crime" by the administration of US President George W. Bush.

"The American forces from Iraq committed cold-blooded murder," government newspaper Tishrin wrote. "They committed a war crime in killing eight Syrian civilians in a quiet village."

Official media reported that American helicopter-borne troops from Iraq launched an assault on a building site Sunday in the village of Al-Sukkiraya, which lies just eight kilometres (five miles) from the border.

The US military in Iraq said it did not have "any information" on the incident, which if confirmed would be the first of its kind into Syrian territory amid frosty relations between Washington and Damascus.

Damascus has summoned the official US and Iraqi representatives in protest, the official SANA news agency said, describing the dead as a father and his four children, a couple and another man.

Syrian state television broadcast pictures of the scene, showing a building site with bloodstains on the ground, and the bodies of victims lying in the morgue.

SANA said four US helicopters violated Syrian airspace and that American soldiers attacked a civilian building under construction and fired at workmen inside, causing eight deaths.

"Syria condemns and denounces this act of aggression and US forces will bear the responsibility for any consequences," SANA quoted an official as saying.

"Syria also demands that the Iraqi government accept its responsibilities and launches an immediate inquiry following this dangerous violation and forbids the use of Iraqi territory to launch attacks on Syria."

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem is due in London for a visit on Monday.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman Commander Darryn James said there was "no response" from the US Department of Defence.

US commanders say Syria is the main transit point for foreign jihadists crossing into Iraq and have blamed Damascus for turning a blind eye to the problem but Iraqi officials have said Syria has been boosting border security.

Al-Sukkiraya is on the Euphrates river across the border from the Iraqi town of Al-Qaim, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda and other insurgents. US commanders have regularly said the area is a transit point for foreign fighters.

"I heard shooting, I ran to get my son and they shot me," one woman lying in a hospital bed told Syrian state television.

"I was fishing and I saw four helicopters. They started shooting like the rain," said another man, his arm in a bandage. "I saw eight soldiers coming out (of a helicopter) with weapons... I tried to flee and I was hit."

In neighbouring Lebanon, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said the raid "constitutes a violation of Syrian sovereignty and thus is a dangerous, unacceptable attack that we condemn."

Last month, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told Bush that Iran and Syria -- long targets of US blame over the deadly unrest in his country -- no longer pose a problem.

Syria's first ambassador to Iraq in 26 years took up his post this month, marking the official end of more than two decades of icy relations.

However, on October 16 Iraqi forces arrested seven Syrian "terrorist" suspects near the city of Baquba, a hub of Al-Qaeda fighters, the defence ministry said.

Washington has also accused Damascus of failing cooperate adequately with the International Atomic Energy Agency in its investigation into a mystery facility bombed by Israel in September last year that US officials have charged was a nuclear plant.