The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Baiji

A U.S. military helicopter air strike on Wednesday night killed eight civilians, including two children and an elderly man, north of Baghdad, police officials said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, US troops shot dead 11 suspected militants in a Shiite district of the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, the American military said.

The men were "Special Group criminals," a term used for Shiite militants backed by Iranian groups, and one of them was about to target US troops with a roadside mine when he was shot, a statement said.

"Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers have killed 11 Special Group criminals in an ongoing operation" in the east of the capital, the statement said. It said one of the victims had tried to place a mine when he was shot dead.

Earlier, a US military spokesman had said "there were no MND-B (US or allied) soldiers involved in an improvised explosives device event, or a subsequent clash. There was no t event in eastern Baghdad, specifically, no event we're tracking in Obeidi." The attack came a day after Iraqi security forces poured into nearby Sadr City for the first time in eight weeks following a truce between the government and followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The US military said Iraqi soldiers found numerous home-made bombs and other munitions during the initial stages of Operation Peace in Sadr City on Tuesday.

ical Shiite movement had agreed that its Mahdi Army militia would offer no resistance to the Iraqi troop deployment under a deal reached with the government on May 10.

"Before the start of this operation, there were 40 terrorist attacks per day in Mosul. Now we have four to six a day," he added.

Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi, police chief in the town of Baiji, said the attack was on a group of shepherds in a car in a farming area. Relatives said some of those killed were fleeing on foot after the U.S. military arrived in the area.

"This is a criminal act. It will make the relations between Iraqi citizens and the U.S. forces tense. This will negatively affect security improvements," al- Qaisi told Reuters.

A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lt-Col Maura Gillen, said the helicopter fired after noting "suspicious activity," and people in the car had ignored warnings to stop the vehicle.