Mortar bombs rain down on Iraqi town, kill 7

BAGHDAD, Aug 18 (Reuters) Seven people were killed when a mortar barrage hit the town of Khalis north of Baghdad on Saturday, police said.

An estimated 17 mortar rounds hit the local market, residential areas and a hospital.

Ali Hamid, a sewerage engineer in the religiously mixed town, was in the market when the attack took place.

''It began raining bombs above our head. People in the market began running. I saw the body of an old woman lying in the street,'' he said.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in a wave of sectarian violence since the bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in the town of Samarra in February 2006. The US military launched a major offensive against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and Shi'ite militias this week.

REUTERS SKB PM1905