U.S. forces accused of shooting Sunni allies

U.S. forces accused of shooting Sunni allies

By Leila Fadel and Mohammed al Dulaimy, McClatchy Newspapers 59 minutes ago

BAGHDAD — Members of a Sunni Muslim group that was formed with American backing to fight Sunni militants charged Wednesday that a lengthy U.S. air and ground attack killed at least seven of its fighters.

Mansour abd Salem, one of the leaders of the Sunni Awakening council in Taji, north of Baghdad , charged in a television interview that U.S. forces had "deliberately" killed members of the group in a "hideous" assault.

The U.S. military said that the operations targeted armed "associates of senior al Qaida in Iraq leaders," killed 25 suspected terrorists and detained 21 suspects.

Meanwhile in Baghdad , the U.S.-backed Iraqi government seized the offices and shut down the radio station of the Association of Muslim Scholars , a major Sunni group that's voiced support for al Qaida. In a television interview, the group's leader, Sheik Harith al Thari , who's now in Jordan , once said that, "We are from al Qaida and al Qaida are from us."

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