The American-led command in Baghdad is condemning a pair of attacks last week that targeted young Iraqi civilians at soccer fields in two Baghdad districts.

According to a statement released Monday, at least 20 people — including civilians and children at a soccer match — were killed in the two incidents. On Aug. 4, the military said, 10 people were killed at a soccer field in the Hadhra district of the capital. Two days earlier, in Amil district, another 10 people — “mostly young soccer players,” the release reads — were killed at a different field.

“We express our heartfelt condolences to the families and tribes who lost loved ones in these vicious attacks, and for all the Iraqi people who suffer at the hands of these killers,” the statement reads. “Innocent Iraqis, who desire nothing more than security, unity, and prosperity, suffer fear and terror from murder squads on a daily basis.”

“The Hadhra and Amil attacks were carried out by death squads who murder indiscriminately. Death squad murderers who kill innocent children will be brought to justice before the Iraqi people. These killers are destroying Iraq’s future.”

In the statement, military officials called the killings a “shameful precedent,” but that they show “these murderers realize they’re failing, and are now targeting the future of this country, its children.”

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