BAGHDAD, Aug 8: US air strikes on Wednesday killed what the US military said were 30 militants suspected of involvement in transporting deadly roadside bombs from Iran. Hospital officials put the death toll from strikes by US helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in Baghdad's mainly Shia Sadr City at 13. Police said 11 people had died, including women and children.

A US military spokesman said there were no civilian casualties.

“There were women and children in the area when we conducted the operation but none were killed in the air strike,” Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said.

The US military said its soldiers and Iraqi allies killed two armed men as they began raids in Sadr City, a sprawling slum in Baghdad's northeast and a stronghold of militia fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

They said they also saw “a large group of armed men” and a vehicle attempting to attack ground forces.

“Responding appropriately to the threat of the organised terrorist force, close air support was called and engaged the terrorist vehicle and organised terrorist force, killing an estimated 30 terrorists,” the military statement said.

Hundreds of angry mourners later marched through Sadr City streets. Television pictures showed a US attack helicopter circling above bullet-riddled cars and a house that showed damage from shrapnel and fire.

The military's statement said the group it raided was known for transporting roadside bombs, including “explosively formed penetrators”, or EFPS, which account for a high proportion of US casualties in Iraq, from Iran.

The attack came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is trying to salvage his fractured unity government after almost half of his cabinet pulled out or boycotted meetings, arrived in Tehran for security talks.

Washington accuses Tehran of fomenting violence by training and arming Shia militias in Iraq, particularly with armour-piercing roadside bombs. Iran denies the charge and blames Iraq's unrelenting violence on the 2003 US-led invasion.

US military officials say more than 70 per cent of attacks carried out on US forces in Baghdad in July were done by Shia militias, some trained in Iran.—Reuters