Biggest attack yet in America's air war against the Sadrists (updated)

AlHayat says an attack by US planes in Hilla probably killed around 60 people, described as armed, quoting Iraqi security people who said that is what the Americans told them. The attack was called in by Iraqi forces, following Sadrist attacks on Supreme Council, Badr, and Dawa offices in that city, but the attacks were apparently in other areas, and a Sadrist official said the victims were retreating. The Iraqis said they couldn't confirm the numbers because Mahdi Army people had evacuated dead and wounded. (Note: This occurred Wednesday. Here is the initial sketchy report in VOI. And here is what the multi-national forces press office had to say about what happened Wednesday in Hilla, referring to only five people killed in a US airstrike).

The city of Hilla witnessed an unprecedented escalation of violence, with continuation for the second day of armed clashes between Mahdi Army people and the Iraqi security forces...and American planes intervened to support the Iraqi forces. There are conflicting reports on the number of victims in the air attack launched by the American planes against armed people in the Thaura district in eastern Hilla, but an Iraqi security source...said "the multinational forces told Iraqi police that the attack killed 60 armed people", but he said Iraqi police couldn't verify the actual result because the Mahdi Army evacuates its dead and wounded...

Moreover, it is clear from his information that this American air attack was directly related to the Iraqi political situation. The journalist puts it this way:

[The Iraqi security source] added that this fighting began after the fall of the Kafal (sp?) district in northern Hilla at the hands of armed people, and their overrunning offices of the Supreme Council and the Badr Organization, and of the Dawa Party, in that district, and their destruction, following by blowing up of a police vehicle, leacing to two killed and 12 wounded... The source said the fighting continued for five hours, which led the Iraqi forces to call for air support from the multinational forces, which bombed the districts of Nadr Atthalath and Thaura and Muhayzam, which are centers for Sadr followers in Hilla.

The journalist then quotes the director of the Sadr office in Hilla who said:

"The killling of more than 60 people and wounding of dozens more was the result of an attack on a group of Sadr followers seeking refuge in Al-Thaura", indicating that "this air attack targeted defenceless people during their withdrawal, who were not confronting the security forces, or fighting with them".

This should at least put to rest any idea that this is not an American war against the Sadrists, and will become more and more of an American war as the Iraqi forces fail. The WaPo account of US armored vehicles being involved in fighting in Sadr City tells us the same thing.

Today (Friday) there are reports of US air strikes in Basra, and one in Sadr City. On the "multi-national forces" website, there is a report that appears to be at least partly about the above-reported Hilla incident, referring to only five people being killed in a US air attack, not 60, and appears to have been written by a war-crimes lawyer, because it contains phrases like "maneuvering back to [US and Iraqi ground forces] and due to the hostile intent of the act, were engaged from the air..."]