25 killed in battle in Iraq

Coalition, Iraqis differ on whether dead were insurgents

BAGHDAD -- Coalition forces supported by aircraft killed at least 25 people early Friday. U.S. military officials said the dead were members of a radical Shiite Muslim group backed by Iran, but an Iraqi government official said they were armed civilians.

It was one of the biggest firefights in Iraq this year.

The coalition troops were in Diyala province west of the provincial capital, Baqubah, seeking a leader of the so-called Special Groups when they came under attack, said Maj. Winfield Danielson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. He declined to identify the unit involved or its nationality.

U.S. soldiers have been patrolling the area heavily much of the year.

The Special Groups started as part of the Mahdi Army militia, controlled by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. But when Sadr ordered a cease-fire, the Special Groups ignored it and continued attacking U.S. troops. American military officials have said Iran's elite Quds Force supports the group with weapons, money and training.

Falih al-Fayadh, the director of an office that represents the prime minister in the province, said that more than 20 people had been wounded Friday and that the dead and wounded were residents who'd often been attacked by terrorists.

The locals fired first, Fayadh said, but only because they mistook the soldiers -- who came about dawn -- for insurgents. Those killed included two women and a child, he said.

"There was clearly a problem with the coordination between the coalition commanders and local police," Fayadh said.

Danielson said the troops involved reported no civilian casualties. They were seeking a Special Groups commander who is thought to be involved in smuggling weapons from Iran to Baghdad, where Special Groups fighters have been blamed for several recent attacks on U.S. troops.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

OTHER ACTION: Elsewhere in Iraq, the U.S. military reported that coalition forces killed at least 12 suspected terrorists Friday.

In Baghdad, they killed seven and detained one while hunting an associate of senior leaders of the group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Near Yusufiyah, south of Baghdad, they killed four terrorism suspects, and they killed one and detained one in the northern city of Kirkuk.

SOLDIERS KILLED: Four U.S. soldiers were reported killed -- three Friday in roadside bombings in Baghdad and near Beiji to the north, and one Thursday in a small-arms attack in the capital, The Associated Press reported.

At least 3,813 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an AP count.

INVESTIGATION: The U.S. military said it was investigating the deaths of three civilians shot by U.S. sentries near an Iraqi-manned checkpoint, according to the AP. Iraqi officials said the victims were U.S.-allied guards and were mistakenly targeted.