Iraqi and US forces detain six suspects in raid on Sadr City

(16 Dec 2006)
1. Various of damaged house
2. People gathered on road outside damaged house
3. Interior of damaged house
4. Destroyed and burnt fuse box on house wall
5. Interior view of smashed windows
6. Hole in wall
7. Exterior of damaged house with people gathering
8. Car with children standing by
9. Close-up of bullet holes in car
10. Pick-up truck with broken windscreen
11. Interior of damaged car
12. White car in street surrounded by group of children
13. Close-up of smeared blood on car
14. Burnt out car on street with children watching
15. Another burnt car
16. Close-up of burnt out car with children looking through window
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jassim Abid Fazaa, Al Sadr City resident:
"When we went out, we saw lots of shrapnel in the house, after the US forces left the site the situation was very bad. There were US warplanes striking with cluster bombs "
18. Wide of people gathering near funeral tent
STORYLINE:
Iraqi and US forces detained six suspects in a raid and an airstrike in the Shiite slum of Sadr City on Saturday which left one fighter dead and another wounded, the US military said.
The raid was aimed at capturing the leader of an illegally armed group of more than 100 people believed responsible for kidnappings, killings, illegal checkpoints, rocket attacks and bombings against security forces and civilians in northeastern Baghdad, according to a statement.
The military did not identify the target further nor say if the militant leader was among those detained.
Sadr City is a stronghold of the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia which is loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and blamed in much of the sectarian violence in the capital.
Special Iraqi army forces, with coalition advisers, detained six suspects in the operation and coalition aircraft struck after fighting erupted on the ground, the military said.
It said no civilians nor Iraqi nor coalition forces suffered casualties and minimal damage was caused to the area.
AP Television News footage shows three burned out cars and a house with blackened walls and smashed windows.
"When we went out, we saw lots of shrapnel in the house, after the US forces left the site the situation was very bad .There were US warplanes striking with cluster bombs," witness Jassim Abid Fazaa told AP Television News.

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