The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Baghdad

The US military said on Monday that its forces accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians, including a child, during weekend raids against Al-Qaeda fighters south of Baghdad.

The raid, one of a number of incidents in recent months involving the killing of civilians, occurred on Saturday near the town of Iskandariyah in an area known as the Triangle of Death.

Three more civilians including two children were wounded "as coalition forces pursued Al-Qaeda," the military said in a statement.

Witnesses claimed as many as 20 people, including 17 members of a single family, were killed in a US air strike in the area, which is a stronghold of fiercely anti-American insurgents.

"Shortly after the incident, coalition forces leaders met with a sheikh representing the citizens of the local area," the US statement said.

"The incident is under investigation. We offer our condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident, and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life."

The military gave no further details. But a statement from a hardline group of Sunni clerics known as the Muslim Scholars' Association said US warplanes had bombarded an area known as Al-Khanassa, near Al-Madain, which lies to the northeast of Iskandariyah.

"Twenty people were killed in this major attack, including 17 members of the Imad Salim family," said the association, which is suspected of links to several insurgent groups including Al-Qaeda and now based in Amman.