BAGHDAD — U.S. forces firing from helicopters Friday pursued militiamen loyal to a radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric into a west Baghdad district, killing at least 18 people, reportedly including some civilians.
Meanwhile, as counterinsurgency efforts continue against suspected hide-outs of gunmen and bomb-makers, a senior U.S. commander in Iraq said withdrawing troops would undermine gains.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands more than one-third of the nearly 30,000 additional troops deployed to Iraq in recent months, rejected a call from a prominent Republican senator for President Bush to begin reducing troops, saying it would be a "giant step backwards."
U.S.-led forces said Friday's predawn raid in the Shula district, controlled by cleric Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, was in response to an attack on a U.S. patrol in the area. But residents said the U.S. helicopter attack caught many people asleep on their roofs, where they go to escape the stifling heat of apartments that get only an hour or two of electricity each day.
Hospital officials reported that two female bodies were among those brought to two local morgues, and a Sadr spokesman said four women had been killed. Angry relatives and neighbors vowed revenge as they carried the victims' coffins through the streets.
Sadr, whose militia U.S. military leaders accuse of sectarian killings and a campaign of harassment against American troops, denounced the air attacks and called on supporters to stage protests across the country.
The U.S. assault "resulted in killing 20 civilians, including women, children and elderly, and injuring tens more, some in critical condition," charged Nassar Rubaie, head of a parliamentary bloc loyal to Sadr.
He said he held Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government responsible.
Rubaie, and several influential imams in their Friday sermons in Shiite strongholds, blamed the bloodshed in Iraq on the U.S. presence.
"The presence of the occupation forces is attracting terrorism to this country," he said.
The U.S. military issued a statement on the Shula raid, saying that 18 militants had died and that "coalition forces take every precaution to mitigate civilian casualties during engagements with hostile forces."
North of Baghdad, in Tarmiya, multinational forces reported killing seven gunmen in a raid against suspected insurgents.
