Middle East News

At least 32 killed in attack on two families in Iraq

Dec 8, 2006, 12:54 GMT

Baghdad- Two large families are believed to have been killed in a US air raid in northern Iraq Friday, with security sources in Tikrit saying 32 members of the two families were killed.

The US Army has yet to comment on the attack, which took place in Ishaki.

Sources in Tikrit's city hall said that nothing suspicious was found in the debris of the two houses - no weapons, ammunition or explosives.

The military command in Fallujah had earlier said insurgents in the province of Anbar in western Iraq had killed five US soldiers on Wednesday and Thursday. Another soldier was killed in an accident.

In another development, US military sources said that 20 insurgents, including two women, were killed Friday morning in an 'air-supported raid' on an alleged al-Qaeda location in the Tharthar area.

Explosives were later found in the extremists's hide-out, the US military said.

Meanwhile, one US soldier was killed in Baghdad Thursday when a roadside bomb targeting his patrol was detonated.

The soldier's death brings the number of American soldiers killed to 19 in two days after US military sources reported late Thursday that seven soldiers had been killed in Anbar province during the previous 48 hours.