U.S. Aircraft Bomb Iraqi Family After Drone Detects Possible Threat

A U.S. airstrike guided by a remote-controlled surveillance plane killed several members of a household in a volatile Sunni Arab area of northern Iraq, witnesses said, touching off anger Tuesday among some Sunni leaders.

A U.S. military statement said cameras on the unmanned aircraft showed three men digging a hole beside a road about 9 p.m. Monday, interpreted as preparation for planting a bomb. The drone followed the men to a nearby house in the town of Baiji, about 125 miles north of Baghdad.

Manned aircraft swooped in about 10:30 p.m., hitting the house with precision-guided munitions, the statement said.

Drone surveillance aircraft, some armed with missiles, are used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan to spot targets. Videotape from the planes’ cameras is monitored at remote stations in Iraq, at other bases in the Middle East and at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Monday night’s incident, near Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, heightened the simmering tensions between American troops and Sunnis, who dominate the insurgency. U.S. forces, under the command of Army Gen. George W. Casey, have begun seeking ways to reduce the American military presence in Iraq.

Residents reported that at least six members of an extended family were killed in the airstrike and three were rescued. The head of the household, Gadban Hussein, was in critical condition after having all four limbs amputated, a hospital spokesman said by telephone.

“I don’t think he will make it overnight,” the spokesman said.

The dead included three of Hussein’s sons and a daughter, all high school students, and his wife, the witnesses said. A fourth son and the son’s wife were also seriously injured.

Baiji car salesman Nahi Mohammed said he believed a curfew may have prevented rescuers from saving some of the victims.

“We had to wait until morning,” he said by telephone. “We’d have saved those kids if we had the opportunity.”

Sunni leaders condemned the attack for causing the “bloodshed of innocent children” and accused the U.S. of terrorism.

“If such incidents would occur in any other country, I can imagine their reaction,” said Nasir Ani of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab political organization. “But in Iraq it is just like any other news.”

The statement released by the military said the drone “observed the would-be attackers as they dug a hole following the common pattern of roadside bomb emplacement. The individuals were assessed as posing a threat.”

Lt. Col. Ed Loomis, spokesman for the 101st Airborne, said the decision was made to send aircraft, rather than ground troops, because “the individuals moved to the location where they were engaged, and we could not know whether they would move again before a ground force could reach them.”

Bombs planted along roads or carried in vehicles have posed an increasing threat to U.S. troops. In the last six months, such munitions have been responsible for more than half of American combat deaths.

Elsewhere, unrest continued across Iraq on Tuesday, as the sister of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr was reported abducted in a well-to-do neighborhood, and a member of the Baghdad City Council was killed by gunmen.

One bodyguard was killed and two injured during the kidnapping, when gunmen waylaid a minibus and a car about 4:30 p.m. in the Qadisiya neighborhood, where a compound for officials is located.

Iraqi television reported that the woman was Jabr’s sister. The minister has been criticized since a U.S. raid uncovered human rights violations at a Baghdad prison operated by the ministry and the media reported that death squads were operating out of the agency.

A ministry spokesman said he could not confirm that Jabr’s sister had been abducted.

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Times staff writers Caesar Ahmed in Baghdad and Mark Mazzetti in Washington and special correspondents in Tikrit and Taji contributed to this report.