US says bombs house after clash in Iraq's Samarra

BAGHDAD, Aug 26 (Reuters) US forces said they bombed a house in the Iraqi city of Samarra today after fighters attacked them, and police said five children and two women were among the dead.

''At approximately noon today, 12 men in a white truck got out of the truck, ran into a house where we had soldiers in an overwatch position and attacked our soldiers,'' Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Donnelly, spokesman for US forces in northern Iraq, said in an e-mail.

He said the attackers fled to another house and were tracked from the air by a US surveillance drone.

''We dropped a precision guidance bomb on the house following positive identification,'' he said, adding that he could not confirm the number killed.

''If there are innocent injured, it is regrettable for sure, but not surprising that AQI put innocent civilians in harm's way. It's the only thing they do routinely -- take innocent Iraqi lives,'' he said. AQI refers to al Qaeda in Iraq.

Saadoun Mohammad, a police officer at Samarra General Hospital, said the hospital's morgue had received the bodies of five children and two women killed in the strike. He said eight people were wounded, including three children and a woman.

Samarra has been the scene of fighting between US forces and al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants. Washington says it is having success against al Qaeda fighters in the area.

REUTERS MS RN2117