Another Face, Another Raid

*FALLUJAH, Jul 11 (IPS) - It could be called perhaps just another raid.*

Early in the morning on Sunday, Jun. 18, U.S. military helicopters
landed near the home of Sinan Abdul-Ilah al-Mashadani in the al-Jughaifi
district of Fallujah.

Within two minutes the doors of his home were blasted open and "a
strange looking group of people" stormed inside, according to Said Walid
Ahmed, a 40-year-old teacher who lives in the neighbourhood.

"This force is not totally unknown to us here in Fallujah," Ahmed, who
witnessed the incident from a nearby house told IPS.. "They are a
special force of Americans that assassinates more people than it arrests."

Ahmed described the force from the helicopters as "big men with long
hair and beards, some wearing earrings, and others with little black
caps on the top of their heads at the back."

Sinan Abdul-Ilah al-Mashadani, who was a student at al-Mustansiriya
University and the sole supporter of his mother and younger brother and
sister, was killed in the raid, apparently by a special operations team
supported by the U.S. military, according to witnesses.

"Their (special forces troops') dogs were biting everybody including
children and women in the neighbourhood," Um Amar, a 63-year-old woman
who lives three houses away from Sinan told IPS. "They killed the poor
boy in cold blood and arrested his little brother." She burst into tears
and began to pray.

Another neighbour, Jassim al-Jumaily, said Sinan's father Najim
Abdul-Ilah al-Mashhadani was killed during Operation Phantom Fury in
November 2004 when his house was bombed by U.S. warplanes.

The U.S. military assault on Fallujah then destroyed most of the city
and killed between 4,000 and 6,000 people, according to Monitoring Net
of Human Rights in Iraq (MHRI), an Iraqi non-governmental organisation
based in Fallujah.

Sinan took responsibility for his family after the death of his father,
Jumaily said. "He had to work and study at the same time. We did not
notice any abnormality in his behaviour at all. When the helicopters
came, we never thought Sinan would be the target, because we realise
they only come after big personalities from al-Qaeda or leaders in the
Iraqi resistance."

Jumaily said the long-haired bearded men from the special force "blasted
the doors of Sinan's house open as if they were attacking an army
headquarters."

People in the neighbourhood said they heard some of what was going on.
"The screaming of Sinan's mother and sisters was frightening," Jumaily
said. "All we could do was pray for their safety, trying to comfort each
other that the worst possibility was that they would arrest Sinan."

After the men had been inside the house for three hours Jumaily and
other witnesses said they heard Sinan's mother wailing, and saw the men
leave with Amin, her 13-year-old son who was being beaten by the men and
bitten by their dogs as he was taken away.

Many of the neighbours then went to Sinan's home, and found his body,
covered with sheets and mattresses. There was a pool of blood on the
floor, some was splattered on the walls.

"Three days after his detention, Amin was released," said Muhamad
al-Deraji, director of MHRI. "The left hand of this orphaned child was
bitten three times, and is now scarred and deformed."

The U.S. forces also raided other homes in the area, Deraji said. "One
of the dogs attacked a woman who tried to protect her baby. The dog bit
the mother's hand."

Deraji said the forces looted money and jewellery from several of the
houses they raided.

IPS sent an email to Major Douglas Powell at the Combined Press
Information Centre for the Multi-National Force in Iraq to request
comment on the incident. There was no reply.

Later, IPS phoned the U.S. military spokesperson in Baghdad to request
information on the incident. The spokesman, who declined to give his
name, said "we have no information confirming this event ever took place."