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US
soldiers accused of raping
teenage girls
10.06.2003 [1
An Iraqi
newspaper run by Sunni Muslims
traded charges yesterday with the US-led
occupation authority over the
alleged rape of two Iraqi girls by US soldiers,
a claim denied by the
coalition. According to the daily As-Saah, the
girls,
aged 14 and 15, were talking to American
soldiers in Suwaira, 180km south
of Baghdad, on Friday when the soldiers suggested
they accompany them to their
camp to take pictures but then collectively raped
the pair.
This allegation is
"absolutely false", the US Central Command said
in a statement. "We take any
claim of this nature extremely seriously have
looked into the allegations and
found nothing whatsoever to substantiate the
accusations - including checking
local
hospital records," it said.
As-Saah said one of the girls died after she was
raped by 18 soldiers while
the other was killed by her family. Editor Naama
Abderrazzak said two of the
daily's reporters had talked to residents of the
area and seen
the bodies of the two girls.
"After conducting a thorough investigation into
this supposed account, we
know this report is inaccurate, irresponsible,
and purposefully attempts to
damage the credibility of our forces and our
efforts to creat secure and stable
environment for the people of Iraq," Centcom
said.
But Abderrazzak insisted he had asked his staff
to thoroughly check the
story and it was definitely true
"Let the coalition prove that our report is
false and I will fire the
journalists (who wrote it). So far, they
haven't," he said.
Источник: The
Gulf Daily News
(58
коммент.)
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2003-06-12 Thu 18:03ct