US says 4 killed in anti-al-Qaida attack in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Four people, including a woman and a child, have been killed in an operation against al-Qaida near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the U.S. military said Sunday.

The military says the woman and child were riding in a vehicle targeted south of Mosul. It says two armed men were also killed.

(enlarge photo) The wife of Jassim Abdul Hussein, right, mourns over his body at a morgue in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, Iraq, Saturday, May 10, 2008. Hussein was killed during clashes in Baghdad's Sadr City on Friday. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

In Sunday's statement, the military regretted killing "civilians" in the operation Saturday against what was described as associates of foreign al-Qaida fighters.

Iraq's security forces on Saturday launched a new operation against al-Qaida in Mosul. Mosul was considered the last important urban staging ground for al-Qaida in Iraq after losing its strongholds in Baghdad and other areas during the U.S. troop "surge" last year.

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