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20 Killed in Iraqi Attack

The US military announced Friday that it killed 20 insurgents in an attack on a Sunni town in north-west of Baghdad, Iraq. Town locals say those killed were civilians among which 8 were children. Coalition forces reported that they were conducting searches in the area near Lake Tharthar in Salahuddin, when they were attacked by armed militants linked to Al Qaeda. The US Army reported its forces returned fire killing two insurgents. A battle begun and the air force was brought in killing another 18 Iraqis, two of which were woman.

The searches in the Lake Tharthar region have yielded quite a bit if success as several weapon pileups were found and confiscated. Among the weapons taken by coalition forces were: Kalashnikovs, machineguns, landmines and explosives. But Amir Fayadh, Ishaqi`s mayor, and the local police said the air strike did not only kill insurgents. The mayor said that seven women and eight children were also killed. A photo of an Iraqi man holding the dusty head of a 10-year-old boy, who the villagers claim was killed in the attack, has reached the Associated Press.

A day before the deadly attack 2 American GIs were killed when they stepped off their vehicle to examine a roadside bomb. On Thursday, another American soldier was killed from a blast of a roadside bomb in western Baghdad. At least 2,928 American troops were killed in Iraq since the US first invaded the country in March 2003.