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Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008

11 Iraqis killed in U.S. raid in Mosul

BAGHDAD — Eleven members of an Iraqi family were killed Sunday during a U.S. raid in Mosul, including three women and three children, officials said.

Neighbors told Iraqi police in Mosul that the family was peaceful, but the U.S. military said five of the dead were terrorists who had targeted American soldiers.

A military spokesman said at least some of the Iraqis were killed when a member of the family detonated a suicide bomb inside the house the Americans were raiding. It's unclear whether gunfire from U.S. soldiers is responsible for some deaths, Navy Lt. Cmdr. David Russell said.

"At this point we're still working with the hospital to try to sort that out," he said.

A police spokesman in Mosul, Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdulsatar, said most of the dead appeared to have been killed by shrapnel from a bomb.

No U.S. soldiers were reported killed or injured.

Seven other Iraqis died in two additional incidents of violence in Mosul this weekend.

According to a military statement, American soldiers were in the northern Iraq city Sunday morning looking for a wanted terrorist.

They entered a house where they believe the terrorist lived, the statement said, and people inside began shooting at them. The soldiers returned fire. A suicide bomber then detonated an explosives vest inside the house, the military said.

Five men, three women and three children were killed. Another child was injured and one was left unharmed.

"This is just another tragic example of how al Qaida in Iraq hides behind innocent Iraqis," said Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, another military spokesman. "The terrorist exploded his suicide vest in close proximity to women and children, and in a house full of explosives and weapons."

Soldiers found guns and bomb-making materials inside the house after the firefight, the military said.

A police official in Mosul said the raided house is in the city's 17th of July neighborhood and that the Iraqis killed were all related.

Neighbors told police that the dead weren't involved in terrorism and that they were Arab natives of Mosul, the police official said.

He said authorities found evidence of a suicide bomber near the house, including body parts.

Other police officials said the neighborhood where the family died is often the site of U.S. raids.

Though violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq in recent months, Mosul remains dangerous.

Elsewhere in the city on Sunday, gunmen killed four mourners and injured six others during a funeral procession in the al Zinjili area, police said. One of the dead was an Iraqi army officer.

Also on Sunday, police found the dead bodies of three men who were kidnapped Saturday in Mosul's Wahda neighborhood.

In other Iraq news, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit made a one-day stop Sunday in Baghdad to meet with his Iraqi counterpart and Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. It was the first visit to Iraq in nearly 20 years by a high-ranking Egyptian delegation.

During the visit, Gheit expressed support for Iraq's government and offered his country's help in rebuilding Iraq and its economy, a statement released by Maliki's office said.

Iraq's relationship with Egypt has been strained since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.