(dpa) - At least five people were killed and 11 injured Tuesday when US forces attacked the Iraqi city of Tikrit, some 180 kilometres north of Baghdad, Iraqi police said Wednesday.
US military forces attacked the houses of Tikrit's Qadesiya district late Tuesday, while helicopters hovered over the city until the early hours of Wednesday.
Hassan Ahmed, an Iraqi police official, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa that US airstrikes hit a house in the city, killing four people, including a 10-year-old girl, and injuring another 11 Iraqis.
The wounded included five women and five children. US forces detained one civilian during the attack.
Sources told dpa that Iraqi police had found the body of an Iraqi judge near his house. The judge's family told police that he was killed by US forces while he was trying to rescue people in the house that was struck.
The US attack on Tikrit is considered the deadliest in the city since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Sources said the reason behind the attack are still unknown.