US Forces Raid
A Mosque And
Murder The Worshippers
By Dahr Jamail
20 November, 2004
Inter Press Service
U.S.
soldiers raided the Al-Hanifa mosque in Baghdad during Friday prayers.
At 12:30 pm local time, just after Imam Shaikh Muayid al-Adhami concluded
his talk, about 50 U.S. soldiers with 20 Iraqi National Guardsmen (ING)
entered the mosque, a witness reported.
Everyone was
there for Friday prayers, when five Humvees and several trucks carrying
INGs entered, Abu Talat told me on phone from within the mosque
while the raid was in progress. Everyone starting yelling 'Allahu
Akbar' (God is the greatest) because they were frightened. Then the
soldiers started shooting the people praying!
Talat said he was
among a crowd of worshippers being held back at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers.
Loud chanting of 'Allahu Akbar' could be heard in the background during
his call. Women and children were sobbing, he said.
They have
just shot and killed at least four of the people praying, he said
in a panicked voice. At least 10 other people are wounded now.
We are on our bellies and in a very bad situation.
Talat gave his account
over short phone calls. He said he was witnessing a horrific scene.
We were here
praying and now there are 50 here with their guns on us, he said.
They are holding our heads to the ground, and everyone is in chaos.
This is the worst situation possible. They cannot see me talking to
you. They are roughing up a blind man now. He evidently could
talk no further then.
The soldiers later
released women and children along with men who were related to them.
Abu Talat was released because a boy told him to pretend to be his father.
Other witnesses
gave similar accounts outside the mosque. People were praying
and the Americans invaded the mosque, Abdulla Ra'ad Aziz from
the al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad told IPS. He had been released along
with his wife and children. Why are they killing people for praying?
He said that after the forces entered they went to the back doors
and we heard so many bullets of the guns -- it was a gun bigger than
a Kalashnikov. There were wounded and dead, I saw them myself.
Some of the people
who had been at prayer were ordered by soldiers to carry the dead and
wounded out of the mosque, he said.
One Iraqi
National Guardsmen held his gun on people and yelled, 'I will kill you
if you don't shut up', said Rana Aziz, a mother who had been trapped
in the mosque.. So they made everyone lie down, then people got
quiet, and they took the women and children out.
She said someone
asked the soldiers if they would be made hostages. A soldier used foul
language and asked everyone to shut up, she said. Suddenly, she laughed
amid her tears. The Americans have learnt how to say shut up in
Arabic, 'Inchev'.
Soldiers denied
Iraqi Red Crescent ambulances and medical teams access to the mosque.
As doctors negotiated with U.S. soldiers outside, more gunfire was heard
from inside.
About 30 men were
led out with hoods over their heads and their hands tied behind them.
Soldiers loaded them into a military vehicle and took them away around
3.15 pm.
A doctor with the
Iraqi Red Crescent confirmed four dead and nine wounded worshippers.
Pieces of brain were splattered on one of the walls inside the mosque
while large blood stains covered carpets at several places.
A U.S. military
spokesperson in Baghdad did not respond to requests for information
on the raid.
(Aljazeera later
confirmed the casualty
as two dead and nine wounded
- Editor )
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