US forces kill 6 Iraqi police in Baghdad raid -US

BAGHDAD, July 13 (Reuters) US soldiers killed at least six Iraqi policemen and seven suspected militants during a dawn raid in east Baghdad on Friday to arrest an Iraqi police lieutenant accused of militant links, the US military said.

A US war plane made an air strike during the fighting after US soldiers were attacked with ''heavy and accurate'' gunfire from an Iraqi police checkpoint, rooftops and a nearby church, the military said in a statement.

The police lieutenant was detained in the raid. The US said he was suspected of planning roadside bomb and mortar attacks on US forces, and of close ties with Iranians accused by Washington of fomenting violence in Iraq.

US and Iraqi forces have launched a major clampdown in Baghdad to try to thwart sectarian violence between minority Sunni and majority Shiite Arabs.

Sixteen people were killed, including a photographer and driver working for Reuters, during a US operation in the east Baghdad district of Al-Amen yesterday, Iraqi police said.

The US military said nine insurgents and two civilians employed by Reuters died in that incident.

The US military also said its soldiers had detained over 100 suspected militants in raids in southern Baghdad since the start of the month.

REUTERS NC BD1457