US trained Iraqi Civil Defense Corps turned their guns on our soldiers [View All]

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Apache helicopters fire on Sadr supporters in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US Apache helicopters sprayed fire on the private army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr during fierce battles in the western Baghdad district of Al-Showla, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.


"Two Apaches opened fire on armed members of the Mehdi Army," said Showla resident Abbas Amid.


The fighting erupted when five trucks of US soldiers and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) tried to enter the district and were attacked by Sadr supporters, Amid said.


Coming under fire, the ICDC, a paramilitary force trained by the Americans, turned on the US soldiers and started to shoot at them, according to Amid.

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