A member of the Maysan Province parliament in southeastern Iraq reports that at least 10 civilians were killed and five others wounded in a raid by US and Iraqi forces on the village of Ali al-Sharqi. The MP said at least two of the slain were women.

The raid was said to be targeting reports of “arms smuggling” operations in the village, not far from the Iranian border. The Pentagon initially reported that only five “smugglers” were killed, all by Iraqi forces.

But later, the Department of Defense issued a secondary press statement claiming that an unknown number of people were killed in the operation, all of them “Iranian-backed terrorists.”

The military also claimed that they seized “electric circuits” which could have been used to detonate homemade bombs in the raid. They also found assault rifles in the raid and arrested at least 22 people.

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