Car bomb, US air strike kill 18 in Iraq

A car bomb killed at least eight people and wounded 20 near a market in Baghdad today, Iraqi police said.

A car bomb killed at least eight people and wounded 20 near a market in Baghdad today, Iraqi police said.

They said the attack took place in the Shia district of Shaab.

Earlier, local officials reported that a US military air strike on insurgent targets in a southern Iraqi city killed ten civilians. The US military said two F-16 fighter jets hit targets in a street in the Shia city of Diwaniya after militants fired up to 75 mortar bombs and rockets at the Camp Echo coalition military base yesterday morning.

"Coalition forces are reviewing the incident to ensure that appropriate and proportionate force was used in responding to the intense attack," a US statement said, without referring to any Iraqi casualties.

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A hospital source said the dead included six children under the age of 12. He put the number of wounded at 30.

Diwaniya has been the scene of clashes between US troops and Shia militiamen in recent months. The Mehdi Army militia of anti-American Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has a strong presence in the city, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad.