U.S helicopter fires on insurgents killing 11 Iraqis, including 1 child

A U.S. helicopter opened fire on a group of men as they were planting roadside bombs in a Sunni stronghold north of Baghdad on Tuesday, then chased them into a nearby house, killing 11 Iraqis, including five women and one child, the military said.\nThe airstrikes came a day after Osama bin Laden scolded his al-Qaida followers and other insurgents, saying they have been “lax” for failing to overcome fanatical tribal loyalties and unite in the fight against U.S. troops.\nThe message of his new audiotape reflected the growing disarray among Iraq’s Sunni Arab insurgents and bin Laden’s client group in the country, both of which are facing heavy U.S. military pressure and an uprising among Sunni tribesmen.\nThe men were seen placing the bombs near the volatile northern city of Samarra, said Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a military spokeswoman.\nAn Apache helicopter “engaged these enemy forces, and the enemy forces ran into a house and took over the structure,” she said, adding the attack aircraft continued to fire at the suspected militants as they tried to escape.\nA known member of a roadside bomb-making network was among five military-aged men who were killed, but the dead also included five women and one child, the military said in a statement that cited local nationals as its source. The statement said the circumstances surrounding the airstrikes were under review.\nKageleiry had said eight military-aged men were among those killed but later revised the figure to five and said an investigation was under way.\nShe expressed regret for the civilian deaths but blamed insurgents for endangering their lives by running into the house to escape attack by the U.S. forces.\nPolice and witnesses said 14 people were killed, including four women and eight children.\nDhurgham Hamid, a man from the area that was hit, said the dead included a man who was a supervisor at the provincial education directorate, and his wife, an accountant at the agency.\n“They were peaceful people who had nothing to do with the resistance or gunmen,” Hamid said.\nIt was the third claim of civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes in as many days, raids that have prompted complaints that too many ordinary Iraqis are losing their lives, particularly as the Americans increasingly rely on air power to attack militants.\nOn Monday, relatives and police said a 42-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter were seriously wounded when attack helicopters opened fire before dawn on a duplex that housed a family in one half and a store selling motor oil in the other in Baghdad’s Shiite enclave of Sadr City.\nThe U.S. military said attack helicopters killed one extremists and wounded five after they were seen trying to place a roadside bomb.\nGround forces also called for air support after encountering fierce resistance in a raid targeting a suspected Iranian-linked leader of a kidnapping ring in Sadr City on Sunday, although casualty tolls conflicted. The Americans said 49 militants were killed, but Iraqi officials insisted the number of casualties was 15 – all civilians.\nAssociated Press Writer Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.