American Troops Kill 40 Insurgents In Iraq

U.S. troops in Baghdad (file photo) (CTK) May 15, 2006 -- The U.S. military says it killed more than 40 insurgents, including a known Al-Qaeda operative, in five raids south of Baghdad.

And it says militants shot down a U.S. helicopter during the weekend fighting, killing the two soldiers aboard. Their deaths brought Iraq's weekend death toll to seven American servicemen.

The powerful Sunni Muslim Clerics Association accused the United States of killing 25 civilians in the raids. The U.S. military did not mention civilian deaths, but said several women and children had been wounded.

Insurgents also launched new attacks today. They fired more than 30 mortar rounds at a British military camp in southern Iraq, wounding four soldiers. Six British soldiers have been killed in attacks in southern Iraq over the past 10 days.

(compiled from agency reports)