Anger in Iraq over deadly U.S. raid

Iraq’s prime minister denounced a deadly U.S. raid Sunday as a crime that violated the nations’ security pact and demanded that American commanders hand over those responsible to face possible trial in Iraqi courts.

The U.S. military, however, strongly denied that it had overstepped its bounds and said it had notified Iraqi authorities in accordance with the rules that took effect this year governing U.S. battlefield conduct.

The predawn raid in the southern Shiite Muslim city of Kut ended with at least one woman dead after being caught in gunfire and six suspects arrested for alleged links to Shiite militia factions.

The six detainees were released, said Maj. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat, head of the provincial police. At the same news conference, U.S. Army Col. Richard Francey offered condolences to the family of the slain woman.

The U.S.-Iraqi accord, which took effect Jan. 1, requires American commanders to coordinate raids and other planned strikes with the Iraqi government and military, or work in joint U.S.-Iraqi units. U.S. forces are set to move out of most major Iraqi cities by the end of June in the first phase of a promised withdrawal from the country by the end of 2011.

A statement from Prime Minister Nouri Maliki called the raid a “violation of the security pact.”

He asked the U.S. military “to release the detainees and hand over those responsible for this crime to the courts,” according to an Iraqi security official.

The cascade of protests and questions began just hours after the sweep into Kut, which the U.S. military said targeted suspected backers of Shiite militias believed to have links to Iran.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the mosque in Kut, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, to decry the U.S. action and demand an inquiry.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry also ordered the arrest of two high-ranking Iraqi officers for their alleged roles in allowing U.S. forces to operate in Kut.