Family killed as US forces battle to retake Iraqi town

Local people blamed an American air strike for Friday's deaths, but a US military statement said there had been fierce fighting in the town and that rebel weapons had also damaged at least one building.

"Six members of one family were killed when US planes bombed their place, a nursery school they were using as a house in 17th of July Street in the centre of the city last night," said Dr. Kamal al-Hadithi of Ramadi Hospital.

Ramadi is a stronghold of the insurgents locked in battle with the US forces in Iraq. Five US soldiers were killed there on Wednesday in what a military spokesman called a struggle to "take back" the town.

"After coming under attack in Ramadi on Friday, coalition forces returned fire in several separate instances. There were no coalition casualties ... No civilian casualties were reported," the military said Saturday.

During the fighting, US troops opened fire with tank guns and "precision munitions were used to stop improvised explosive device triggermen waiting in ambush, and armed insurgents firing at a coalition outpost.

"Numerous insurgents were killed in the counterattack," it said.

The US military said soldiers had noticed two unexplained explosions that could have been caused by insurgents accidentally tripping home-made bombs or misfiring rockets, while one rebel rocket-propelled grenade hit a house.

"Civilian casualties were not able to be assessed in these instances," the statement said, implying the insurgents would be to blame if anyone were killed.

Separately, a US air force account of Friday's action said F/A-18D Hornet strike fighters, AV-8B Harrier jump jets and an unmanned Predator drone had been used over Ramadi.

"The Predator expended a Hellfire missile on an enemy target," the air force said.

A Predator is low-flying surveillance plane operated from the ground by remote control. The Hellfire is a powerful 100 pound (45 kilogramme) guided missile designed to beat the armour of a tank.

Ramadi, a large Sunni town 100 kilometres (62 miles) due west of Baghdad, has become notorious as a stronghold of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which last month declared it as part of a so-called "Islamic Emirate of Iraq".

On Thursday, US spokesman General William Caldwell said US soldiers and marines had adopted "an aggressive offensive approach to taking back the city of Ramadi, to return it back to Iraqi security force control."

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