US troops kill 8 after attacked - Iraqi police

By Staff
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DULUIYA, Iraq, Mar 19 (Reuters) US troops killed eight people, including a family, after their patrol was ambushed in an Iraqi town early today, Iraqi police said.

Police said three of the victims were a 13-year-old boy and his parents who were shot dead when US soldiers entered their house in the Sunni town of Duluiya, about 90 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

''A patrol of US forces was attacked by gunmen using rocket propelled grenades,'' a Duluiya police officer told Reuters.

They said three of the victims were young men, but it was not immediately clear whether they were militants or civilians.

Six people were also wounded in the fighting and seven detained for questioning.

The US military said it was checking the report.

A Reuters reporter in the town said there was heavy gunfire and the sound of explosions from 2 am local time until 4 am When the fighting died down, residents emerged from their homes as US troops backed by armoured fighting vehicles occupied the town.

The reporter said at least three houses had been damaged in the fighting.

As helicopters hovered overhead, US troops handed out leaflets saying they did not regard Sunnis as their enemy and that they wanted to withdraw from Iraq as soon as the country's newly formed army was able to stand on its own feet.

It also asked residents to give them information about the activities of insurgents, who are waging a campaign against the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led interim government.

One of the dead men was later identified by a relative as Naim Owaid, 31, a policeman, who left home today wearing civilian clothes.

''He went out in the morning; half an hour later we heard that he was killed and we saw his body lying in the street. We couldn't go to fetch his body,'' said his cousin, who asked not to be named.

Another of the victims was 18-year-old Ibrahim Talib. ''He went to see what was going on,'' said a relative who also did not want to be identified.

After the firefight US soldiers held a meeting with police and tribal leaders, one of whom called for the district to be allowed to set up its own militia.

''My father told the Americans that if they allowed us to form a regiment we could protect the district from terrorists,'' said Rajwan Hamid Shwesh, son of one of the tribal leaders.

REUTERS DKS BS1850

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