Iraqi killed in US raid

Medical sources said the casualties were from the same family

At least one Iraqi has been killed in an overnight raid by US forces on a village north of the flashpoint town of Falluja, the US military has said.

Local Iraqi sources said three people died and three were injured when American tanks moved into al-Sijr shortly after 0200 local time (2200GMT Monday) and opened fire on two houses, with helicopters flying in to attack with missiles.

Doctors at a local hospital are reported as saying all the dead and injured were members of the same family.

Falluja lies in the so-called "Sunni triangle", where there has been strong resistance to US-led occupation forces since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The operation was a search for ammunition and fighters loyal to the former president, according to local sources quoted by Reuters news agency.

Craters

US military spokesman Anthony Reinoso said troops began firing after they came under attack.

The assailants fled into a building and "a crowd formed", he said. "Weapons were seen in the crowd."

But one of the injured, Abed Rasheed, said: "There was never any trouble in our village and the Americans have never been inside it.

"This is genocide. This is not about overthrowing a government or regime change," he said from his hospital bed in Falluja.

There were large craters in the courtyards of the two targeted houses, where missiles had apparently landed, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The attack comes the day after a suicide bombing close to the United Nations headquarters in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

That heightened concerns about security and the ability of international agencies and organisations to operate safely in Iraq.

A spokesman for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari would lead a team to investigate UN security in Iraq in the wake of the bombings.