US Forces Kill Women and Children

Eleven people – most of them women and children – were killed when US forces bombed a house during a raid north of Baghdad early yesterday, police and relatives said.

Insurgent attacks killed at least four more people.

The US military acknowledged the raid and said it captured one insurgent. It took place near Balad, about 50 miles north of the capital. But the military said only four people were killed – a man, two women and a child.

Authorities in the Shiite holy city of Karabala, meanwhile, imposed a six-day driving ban starting today in a bid to protect pilgrims from a wave of sectarian killing.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has hinted US troop levels may increase slightly in the coming days because of the pilgrimages connected to the holiday of Ashura, which ends on March 20. Increased attacks marked the celebration during 2004 and 2005.

Police Captain Laith Mohammed, in nearby Samarra, said American war-planes and armour were used in the strike.