BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. aircraft and army snipers killed 13 gunmen north of Baghdad on Friday in fierce fighting that erupted as troops closed in to capture an al Qaeda cell leader, the U.S. military said.The U.S. military this week announced the launch of a major new offensive targeting al Qaeda and Shi'ite militias, who they fear will step up attacks ahead of a key report on the Iraq war due to be presented to the U.S. Congress in September.
It launched an operation east of the town of Tarmiya on Friday targeting an al Qaeda leader "who provides guidance to senior terrorist leaders".
After being shot at from several buildings, troops had called in air strikes that forced out four gunmen, including a woman wearing a ski mask, who were then killed by aircraft and sniper fire, the U.S. military said. Nine more gunmen were killed during the fighting.
"Despite coalition forces' appeals for the terrorists to send out women and children to be taken to safety, a boy was killed in a building with an armed terrorist who had engaged the ground forces," a military statement said.
A day earlier U.S. forces in Tarmiya attacked a Sunni mosque in the town after machinegun and rocket-propelled grenade fire on their combat outpost killed one soldier. More than 3,700 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
U.S. President George W. Bush has sent an extra 30,000 troops to Iraq to help clamp down sectarian violence between Shi'ite Muslims and Sunni Arabs and buy Iraq's divided leaders time to reach a political accommodation.
Moderate Kurdish and Shi'ite blocs formed a new alliance on Thursday to support Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government in an attempt to break a political deadlock that has paralysed decision-making and stalled agreement on crucial legislation. Continued...