BAGHDAD — A U.S. helicopter opened fire on a group of men as they were planting roadside bombs in a northern Sunni stronghold of Samarra on Tuesday, then chased them into a nearby house, killing 11 Iraqis, including five women and one child, the military said.
An Apache helicopter “engaged these enemy forces, and the enemy forces ran into a house and took over the structure,” said Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a military spokeswoman, adding the attack aircraft continued to fire at the suspected militants as they tried to escape.
A known member of a roadside bomb-making network was among five men who were killed, but the dead also included five women and one child, the military said in a statement. Kageleiry 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.
Police and witnesses said 14 people were killed, including four women and eight children. The discrepancy could not immediately be resolved.
It was the third claim of civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes in as many days.
However, October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths and American commanders point to the U.S. troop increase and an Iraqi opposition to al-Qaida and Shiite militia extremists as the reasons.
As of Tuesday, the Pentagon has reported 28 U.S. military deaths in October. At the current pace, the monthly total will be about 37 or 38. That would be the lowest total since March 2006. In September, 65 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.
The current pace of civilian deaths would put October at less than 900. The figure last month was 1,023 and for August, 1,956, according to figures compiled by the Associated Press.
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