US helicopter strikes kill 7 militants in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Jan 23 (Reuters) US helicopters blasted a lakeshore militant hideout north of Baghdad today, killing seven gunmen, after several fled there by boat to escape pursuing US troops, the U.S.

military said.

The air strike took place during a raid targeting ''foreign terrorist facilitators'' northwest of Haditha in the volatile Anbar province, heartland of the Sunni insurgency, the US military said in a statement.

It said two militants were killed and six others detained in the initial raid. Three escaped by boat on nearby Lake Qadisiya to a tent encampment on a small peninsula where they were met by four more men, also armed.

''Coalition Forces engaged the enemy force with rotary wing aircraft killing seven terrorists. Several weapons including grenades, machine guns and pistols were found in the tents,'' the statement said.

They were among 16 insurgents killed in raids in the Baghdad and Anbar areas today, the US statement said.

US President George W Bush announced earlier this month that he was sending thousands more soldiers to Anbar to boost the fight against Sunni insurgents who have made the region the deadliest place in Iraq for US troops.

In an operation in Baghdad, US forces said they killed six militants after gunmen holed up inside a building ignored calls to surrender and threw grenades at US troops.

REUTERS AB PM1823