Sunni party office hit in U.S. raid in Iraq; reports of children among dead

Buildings after raid

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces said they were fired on from an office building belonging to a leading Sunni Arab politician during a raid on a suspected al Qaeda safehouse in Baghdad on Monday in which six insurgents were killed.

Saleh al-Mutlaq, an outspoken member of parliament whose Iraqi National Dialogue group is part of the U.S.-backed political process, said U.S. forces had targeted his office, killing two security guards and wounding two more.

Speaking to Reuters by telephone from outside Iraq, Mutlaq also said a family of four, including two children, were killed in an adjacent building during the raid on Monday.

He said the raid was a provocation and said the U.S.-backed government should be targeting Shi'ite militias blamed for operating death squads rather than his political party.

"Coalition forces killed six terrorists and detained one suspected terrorist during a fierce firefight Monday morning in Baghdad," a U.S. statement said.

"Intelligence reports indicated the targeted location was used as a possible safe house for al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists to conduct operational planning," it said, adding U.S. forces were fired on from several buildings nearby and that two buildings caught fire because of the intense firefight.

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