Al-Mansur residential area, Baghdad

2003-04-07

14-18

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer aircraft dropped four 2,000-pound satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) on a house in al-Mansur district of Baghdad. The target was Saddam and his sons, but the bombs ended up killing as many as eighteen civilians. U.S. officials said they received intelligence that Saddam was in the building with his two sons, Qusai and Odai, and several other top aides. Forty-five minutes later, the target building, a restaurant and several surrounding structures were in rubbles. Three houses were replaced by a large crater, and at least twenty other houses and nearly two dozen nearby shops were damaged. Journalist Cecile Feuillatre interviewed Diamia Sameer, who lost her only daughter, her sister, her two nieces, and her house in the strike. Hamza Hendawi, a reporter for the Associated Press, described seeing "a young woman's severed head and torso and a small boy's body" at the scene. Residents put the death toll at fourteen, including seven children.

eye witness accounts, drone / unmanned, leadership / assassination, US / NATO investigation, US / NATO statement, NATO led, cluster bomb(s), US / NATO civilian acknowledgment, local protest, in-flight decision, GPS / JDAM