Saturday, September 29, 2007
Other developments:
Iraq’s prime minister told The Associated Press on Friday that a U.S. Senate proposal to split the country into regions according to religious or ethnic divisions would be a “catastrophe.” The nonbinding Senate resolution calls for Iraq to be divided into federal regions under control of the three communities in a power-sharing agreement similar to the one that ended the 1990s war in Bosnia.
U.S. Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval, 22, was acquitted on charges he killed two unarmed Iraqis. He was convicted of a lesser charge of planting evidence on one of the bodies to cover up the crime. He was to be sentenced today.
In violence north of Baghdad, at least six people were killed when four gunmen with full beards and wearing military uniforms barged into a busy cafe late Thursday as people were playing a popular game to celebrate the end of the dawn-to-dusk fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The men arrived in a Russian-made military vehicle used by the Saddam Hussein-era army and opened fire, shouting, “God is great,” according to a provincial police officer who asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals.
Iraqi police and witnesses said U.S. troops backed by helicopter gunships raided an apartment building at 2 a.m. Friday in a primarily Sunni neighborhood in southern Baghdad, killing 10 civilians and wounding 12. The U.S. military said it was checking into the report.
Source: Associated Press