Iraqi kids playing soccer killed by bomb

Published 10:18 pm Monday, September 22, 2008

BAGHDAD — A bomb hidden under a pile of trash struck children playing soccer near the northern city of Mosul on Monday, killing at least five of the youths, Iraqi officials said.

The blast occurred in the Sunni town of Hamam al-Alil, which has been the site of ongoing U.S.-Iraqi military operations aimed at routing insurgents.

“My son was playing soccer with his friends in an open area, but suddenly a bomb exploded near a heap of trash,” said Hazim Dawood. “We were astonished why the bomb would be left in this place. What could the target be?”

Ahmed Khalid, a doctor at the Mosul hospital, and police officials said the hospital had received the bodies of five children, ages 6 to 12. Three other children were wounded, the officials said.

Baghdad also faced more violence on Monday, with at least three Iraqi civilians killed in two separate bombings.

An American soldier was killed Sunday when his patrol came under small-arms fire in Baghdad, the military said Monday. At least 4,169 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The Iraqi government will begin paying the salaries of about 54,000 of the mostly Sunni fighters in Baghdad province who joined the fight against al-Qaida, the No. 2 U.S. commander there said Monday.

Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said the U.S. will closely monitor the Iraqis as they gradually take over payments for the Awakening Council members, who are called the Sons of Iraq.

“We will not abandon the Sons of Iraq,” he said in a video conference from Iraq. “We will continue to follow up in the future to ensure that they get paid and that they do, in fact, transition to meaningful employment.”

The U.S., said Austin, has been paying an estimated 99,000 Sons of Iraq, but the Iraqi government has agreed to take over that task and will merge about 20 percent of them into the security forces.