The US army apologised Wednesday for killing an Iraqi child on a family picnic in the northern region of Kirkuk, as his father vowed to sue the military for compensation.
Colonel William Mayville acknowledged that his forces had fired mortar rounds on the family Tuesday, killing the boy and wounding his mother and two brothers.
Mayville told a meeting with local government officials, attended by an AFP correspondent, that he has ordered an investigation into the shelling.
The family was out on a picnic for the holidays of Eidul Azha some 10 kilometre's (six miles) south of Kirkuk when US mortar rounds landed around lunch time, according to Iraqi police Lieutenant Laith Naji el-Obeidi.
Mayville, speaking through a translator, said troops of his 173rd Airborne Brigade opened fire because they suspected insurgents were in the area. He said the soldiers found responsible for the deadly error would be held accountable.
He added that he had ordered the payment of 2,500 dollars in compensation for the family of the nine-year-old boy, Bassam Sami Awwad, and 1,500 dollars for each of the three people injured.
The deputy governor of Kirkuk, Ismail Hadidi, and the police chief for the province, Lieutenant General Shirko Shaker, visited the family to convey Mayville's apologies and pay the compensation money, the correspondent said.
But Mayville's apology was not enough for the grief-stricken family, who told AFP they would sue for additional compensation in the Kirkuk courts.
Comments
Comments are closed.