Palestinian refugees flee Baghdad after Iraqi forces raid

Story Highlights

• NEW: Thousands protest after Shiite cleric renews U.S. criticism, AP reports
• NEW: At least five killed in three bombings; 11 bodies found in Baghdad
• One Palestinian killed, nine detained, dozens flee to camp on Iraq-Syria border
• Palestinians had been given support by Hussein, which now makes them targets

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An Iraqi security forces raid on a Palestinian area in Baghdad on Wednesday left one Palestinian dead and forced several dozen to flee the capital, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees office said it is "deeply disturbed" by the action, said to be part of the new Baghdad security plan. The victim was a guard at a Baghdad mosque and was apparently shot in the head. Violence apparently flared when Palestinians tried to resist the raid.

A U.N. news release said nine Palestinians are being held, 51 were released and at least 41 fled to the Iraq-Syria border, where 850 Palestinians have been stranded for 10 months.

The agency says the 15,000 Palestinian refugees in Iraq face difficult conditions.

"At least 186 Palestinians have been confirmed murdered in Baghdad between April 2004 and January 2007. UNHCR believes the number may be significantly higher," the U.N. release said.

"Their enclaves in Baghdad have been the target of many militia attacks. Hundreds of Palestinian families have been evicted from their homes with nowhere to go, prevented from seeking refuge in neighboring countries," the agency said.

"Of all the groups being targeted in Iraq, the Palestinians are the most vulnerable as they literally have nowhere else to flee, and in many cases have been denied travel documents," Andrew Harper, the UNHCR Switzerland-based senior Iraq operations manager, said in a January press release.

Palestinian refugees came to Iraq when escaping Arab-Israeli wars in 1948 and 1967, according to Refugees International, a Washington-based refugee advocacy group.

Saddam Hussein gave them preferential treatment as a sign of his support for Palestinian independence, the refugee organization said. That, in turn, has made them the target of Iraqi nationalists, who see them as supporters of Hussein.

Most Palestinians in Iraq are, like Hussein was, Sunni Muslims, which could make them targets of Shiite militias operating in Iraq.

Other developments

At least five people were killed, including three police officers, in three bombings across Iraq on Friday, an official with the Iraqi Interior Ministry told CNN. Additionally, 11 bodies were found in the capital. Police could not immediately identify them. The deadly bombings occurred in Kirkuk and two Baghdad neighborhoods, Zafaraniya and Shula.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr criticized U.S. forces on Friday and urged his backers to "shout 'No, No America!' " The Associated Press reported. Al-Sadr's rekindled opposition came after weeks of offering little resistance to a security crackdown in Sadr City. Thousands of protesters took to the streets after al-Sadr's comments were read by a preacher during Friday prayers, the AP reported.

Five U.S. soldiers died in Iraq violence on Thursday, one in Salaheddin province and four in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. On Wednesday, a U.S. Marine serving in Anbar province died "in a noncombat related incident," the military said Friday. The deaths bring the total to 3,209, U.S. troops killed since the war in Iraq began.

A British coroner on Friday ruled that a U.S. "friendly fire" airstrike that killed a British soldier in Iraq was unlawful and criminal. Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker said the death of Lance Cpl. Matty Hull in an attack on his armored vehicle convoy in southern Iraq in March 2003 was entirely avoidable. (Full story)

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