Gunmen attacked two Shiite neighborhoods Friday, prompting Iraqi forces to call for US air support in a clash that killed at least 18 people, the Iraqi army said.
According to the AP, the attacks on Shiite neighborhoods took place in Mahmoudiya, where 50 people were killed earlier this week in a raid by Sunni gunmen on a market. The 18 killed Friday included 11 attackers, four Iraqi soldiers and three police officers, the Iraqi army statement said.
Additionally, the American Army said a Marine died Friday during combat in Anbar province in the west. It was the 24th death this month among U.S. forces serving in Iraq.
Earlier, U.S. troops raided a neighborhood northeast of Baghdad, killing five people after gunmen fired from the rooftops of buildings, the U.S. military said. The dead included two women and a child. A U.S. statement said troops were looking for "terrorists" associated with the al-Qaeda in Iraq network during the raid in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital. Iraqi police said a single man fired warning shots because he believed the soldiers were militiamen.
