An AFP photographer said US-led coalition warplanes bombed the Al-Baath neighbourhood of northwest Basra early on Saturday, killing at least eight people. Several more people were feared killed, he added. And entire building full of Jihadis collapsed with all aboard. No one is digging for the survivors.
There were two more strikes later in the day, British Major Tom Holloway
A British defense official in London who also declined to be identified in line with department policy, however, said US fighter jets dropped the bombs while British planes provided air support.
In Baghdad, a US helicopter also fired a Hellfire missile during fighting in the Baghdad's militia stronghold of Sadr City early Friday, killing four gunmen, military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said.
Ground forces called for the airstrike after coming under small-arms fire while clearing a main supply route at 4:10 a.m., he added.
Iraqi police and hospital officials in Sadr City said five civilians were killed and four others wounded in the attack.
The strikes underscore the risks that the US and its allies in Iraq could be drawn into an internal Shiite conflict that has threatened to unravel al-Sadr's cease-fire and spark a new cycle of violence after months of relative calm.
Rockets or mortars also were lobbed at a US facility in the southern city of Hillah, although no casualties were reported, the military said. The highlite is the goof who fired an RPG at an M1A1.
It sure sounds like the shiites are doing just dandy.
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By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:13am GMT 29/03/2008
The Iraqi government's lack of success in Basra was highlighted when the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, extended a deadline by 10 days for Shi'ite militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to give up their weapons, and offered them cash to do so.
There was no clear indication from Basra's streets that the involvement of coalition airpower had tilted the balance. Militia fighters had painted slogans and photographs of Sadr on captured vehicles. Humanitarian organisations warned that food, medical and water supplies were running low in areas under government siege.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
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