US air strike kills Iraqi family

BBC| January 3 2006

Fourteen members of one family have been killed in a US air strike that destroyed a house in northern Iraq, an Iraqi official has said.

An Iraqi official from the body that liaises between Iraqi and US forces said the attack occurred in Baiji, 200km (125 miles) north of Baghdad.

The US military has made no immediate comment on the report.

US forces frequently use air strikes in their battle against Iraqi insurgents, in an effort to minimise US casualties.

Ghadban Nahd Hassan, 56, told AFP news agency that 14 members of his family had been in the house when it was it bombed.

"I was with some friends in a small shop 100m away from the house when I heard the bombing at around 2130 (1830 GMT)," he said.

"I rushed over to see. My house was destroyed and there was smoke everywhere."

So far, the bodies of a nine-year-old boy, an 11-year-old girl, three women and three men have been found in the rubble.

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