09 January 2005	Sunday	27 Ziqa'ad 1425

AAYTHA, Jan 8: Fourteen people were killed in northern Iraq on Saturday when a house was destroyed in what residents said was a US airstrike.

Television footage and photographs showed a house in the village of Aaytha, southeast of the northern city of Mosul, reduced to rubble, while locals inspected the damage.

They also showed rows of freshly dug graves where locals said the dead had been buried.

"We don't have any confirmation yet. We are getting a flurry of calls," a US military spokesman in Baghdad said.

Residents said US military vehicles had surrounded part of the village overnight, shortly before the strike in the early hours of Saturday morning.

US officials have said operations are underway to restore security to the Mosul area, where the police force has effectively collapsed.

US military reinforcements have begun moving to the area and Iraqi security forces are also being beefed up.

Last year, US forces mounted frequent precision air strikes on houses in the restive western city of Fallujah before a major ground offensive. They said the houses were being used by guerillas and foreign fighters.

Residents said scores of civilians were killed in the air strikes, but the US military said the civilian death toll was exaggerated by doctors in the city.

In May, US Marines attacked an isolated villa in the desert in western Iraq, killing around 40 people, including six women and sparking widespread anger among Iraqis.

Survivors said the house was attacked just after a wedding party. -Reuters