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7 Killed In Raid On Iraqi Home

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The Associated Press

Published: September 20, 2008

BAGHDAD - U.S. troops hunting for a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militant raided a house Friday and killed seven people, including three women, drawing an angry protest from Iraqi officials that all the victims were civilians.

The U.S. military said the raid in Adwar - a Sunni town 70 miles north of Baghdad and just south of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit - targeted an extremist responsible for suicide attacks and roadside bombings.

Neighbors and Iraqi officials insisted all the dead were from a poor family that had been uprooted by sectarian violence and had no links to the insurgency. Iraq's government demanded that those responsible for the raid be punished.

The dispute comes as the United States and Iraq are negotiating a security agreement to replace the U.N. mandate for foreign forces, which expires at year's end. Iraqi negotiators have insisted on oversight of U.S. military operations and the lifting of blanket immunity for American troops and security contractors.

U.S. airstrikes and conflicting claims about civilian deaths have been common throughout the war, prompting public outrage and underscoring the challenges faced by American forces fighting enemies who live among the population and don't wear uniforms.

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