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Five girls killed in Iraqi clash | Five girls killed in Iraqi clash |
(30 minutes later) | |
Five young girls have been killed in Iraq during a clash between US marines and insurgents in the western city of Ramadi, the US has said. | |
A US military statement said militants on the roof of a house had fired on its forces, who responded with tank fire. | A US military statement said militants on the roof of a house had fired on its forces, who responded with tank fire. |
It said soldiers searching the building found the bodies of one man and the five girls, one of whom was an infant. | It said soldiers searching the building found the bodies of one man and the five girls, one of whom was an infant. |
Ramadi, 115km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, is located in Anbar province, a stronghold for Sunni Arab militants. | |
The youngest female casualty was six-months-old and the eldest was aged 10. Another female at the scene was injured but refused treatment, the statement said. | |
Fierce fighting | |
The fighting began after troops discovered an improvised explosive device on the roadside in north-east Ramadi. | |
The US soldiers say as the bomb was being defused, two Iraqi men took up positions on the roof of a nearby house and began firing at them. | |
The patrol first identified the men and then returned fire with tank rounds, the statement said. | |
One of the Iraqi gunmen may have been wounded and removed from the scene by other militants. It said the battle resulted in no coalition casualties. | |
Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Salas said that the insurgents' actions are felt by all and that efforts are under way to offer available assistance to surviving family members. | |
The BBC's Andy Gallacher in Baghdad says Ramadi has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting between marines and insurgents. |
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