Tracer bullets light up the sky as U.S. helicopter gunships fire on enemy positions during a operation by members of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, who came under heavy gunfire while on a mission to raid the Iraqi Police station in Kufa. The building was thought to hideout for militia in the hometown of Muqtada Sadr. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
Alpha Raiders Marines group in the center of Kufa, the hometown of Muqtada Sadr, where they conducted a raid in search of fighters loyal to Sadr. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
A group of Iraqi men are taken into custody at gunpoint after a raid on the police station in Kufa. Twenty-nine men were found hiding in the basement and were taken into custody. Some of the men claimed that they were being held prisoner by Sadrs forces. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
The 29 men come out of the basement into Marine custody. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
Men file out of the basement of the police station in Kufa. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
An Iraqi man holds his hands on his head as he is taken into custody by Alpha Raider Marines during the Kufa raid. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
Handcuffs are checked for the correct tension while the men found in the basement are held. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
The men found in the basement are held while Marines organize their transfer. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
The detainees are handcuffed. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
The men are taken for questioning. (Carolyn Cole / LAT)
