BAIJI, Iraq - A U.S. air strike killed several members of a family in the oil refining town of Baiji in northern Iraq, Iraqi security forces said on Tuesday.

An Iraqi man weeps next to the bodies of victims of an alleged U.S. airstrike in Beiji, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday Jan. 3, 2006. Iraqi police said U.S. aircraft bombed a house Monday night and that seven people were killed and four injured. The U.S. military had no immediate comment on the alleged airstrike or deaths, but the U.S. Central Command said in a press release that Navy F-14s in the vicinity of Beiji strafed a target and dropped a precision-guided bomb 'against insurgents placing an improvised explosive device.' (AP Photo/Bassim Daham)

The U.S. military, responding to an inquiry, said aircraft had targeted a house after three men suspected of planting a roadside bomb were seen entering the building late on Monday.

The military statement made no mention of casualties and said Iraqi police had handled the scene after the attack.

Local people at the scene of the blast said seven bodies were recovered from the rubble, including at least two children.

A police official in the regional capital Tikrit said six people were killed and three wounded, although an official at the Joint Coordination Center, which liaises between U.S. and Iraqi forces in Salahaddin province, said 14 died.

Officials named the householder as Ghadhban Nahi Hussein.

A statement from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division in response to an inquiry about the deaths said soldiers monitoring video footage from a reconnaissance drone spotted three men apparently digging a hole around 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) "following the common pattern of roadside bomb emplacement."

Bomber pilots were alerted, the military statement said: "The individuals left the road site and were followed from the air to a nearby building. Coalition forces employed precision guided munitions on the structure."

The statement did not say whether a roadside bomb was found.

Baiji has seen considerable rebel attacks, including efforts by insurgents to disrupt oil and fuel flows through its refinery, the biggest in Iraq. The closure of the refinery last month has caused serious shortages in fuel across the country, although the plant reopened again late on Monday.

U.S. forces have used air power increasingly throughout the past year. Official military data show only one strike was carried out in March and the average in the first quarter was five strikes per month compared to over 50 in the last quarter.

Iraqi medical staff, police and political leaders, particularly in the restive, Sunni Arab-dominated west and north, have reported civilian casualties in such raids; U.S. commanders say they make every effort to minimize that risk.

Additional reporting by Aref Mohammed in Kirkuk, Ghaswan al-Jibouri in Tikrit and Aseel Kami, Alastair Macdonald, Gideon Long and Hiba Moussa in Baghdad

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited

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