Four insurgents suspected of linking al-Qaida and four civilians were killed by US troops during a raid in Iraq's Baquba on Wednesday, the US military said.

Earlier, eight civilians were also killed in a residential area in Baquba by several mortar rounds, local police sources said.

US forces were attacked by small arms fire from a building as they were targeting a "terrorist" linked to leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq, the US military said in a statement.

Two "terrorist suspects" were killed before the US aircraft were called in to strike "the heavy volume of enemy fire from the target building," the statement said, adding, "American aircraft fired multiple rounds at the building, neutralizing the enemy threat."

The US soldiers found two more "terrorist suspects" and four women were killed and three others were wounded in the airstrike.

Earlier, local police sources said that several mortar rounds struck a residential area in Baquba, killing eight people, including seven of one family who were sleeping in the house garden due to power cut and high temperature.

Baquba is the provincial capital of Iraq's Diyala province which located within Iraq's so-called Sunni Triangle, a bastion of sectarian violence and insurgency against the US-led occupation.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2006)