Iraq Officials Blame US For Sadr Aide Killing, Sons Says Amiri Was Unarmed

This from India's Deepikaglobal.com. Reuters is the source for the article but their version has already disappeared once already today.

NAJAF, Iraq, Dec 28: Iraqi officials in the city of Najaf said today that a raid which killed a top aide of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was a violation of the deal that transferred US control of Najaf to the Iraqi army.

Less than 10 days after the US military handed control of Najaf to Iraqi forces, US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell told reporters that a US soldier killed Saheb al-Amiri in a raid planned and carried out by Iraqi forces.

But officials in Najaf said neither the provincial governor nor security forces in the city were warned about the raid and disputed that the Iraqis had planned the operation.

The raid led to angry protests by thousands of Sadr supporters against US forces during Amiri's funeral.

Sadr controls the Mehdi Army, which US forces blame for widespread sectarian killings and unrest in parts of southern and central Iraq, including a district of Baghdad which bears his family name.

Caldwell said the raid was carried out by 35 soldiers from the 8th Iraqi Army Division with the assistance of eight US military advisers.

A spokesman for Najaf's governor called Amiri's killing an ''assassination'' and said the raid violated the handover's security agreement. Sadr aides said Amiri was head of a charity for the poor and had no links to militias.

''The governor of Najaf considers it a violation of the security treaty since the security file was officially handed over to Iraqis,'' Najaf governor spokesman Ahmed Diabil said.

Iraqi army and police spokesman in Najaf, Colonel Ali Numas Ijrau, also disputed the account given by Caldwell.

"We didn't have any information about an operation targeting the house of Saheb al-Amiri. It is American intelligence who collected the information and who raided the house," he said.

Ouch. So much for sovereignty and that vaunted military handover, eh?

But it gets worse. Amiri's thirteen year old son was there, and says his dad was unarmed.

Caldwell said Amiri resisted arrest, fled to the rooftop and was shot dead by a U.S. soldier who saw him pointing an assault rifle at Iraqi soldiers. But a son of Amiri, aged about 13, said his father was unarmed when he was killed.

''My dad went to the roof and tried to escape over the wall to the neighbours. He didn't have time to take his gun out and he ran upstairs unarmed. They came in and ran upstairs after him and we heard four shots,'' Ahmed Amiri told Reuters.

''When they left we went upstairs and saw he had three bullet wounds in the chest and one in the head.

If this stays the official Iraqi line then...oh chit!