US soldiers accused of killing Iraqi farmers

By Middle East correspondent Mark Willacy

06/21/06 "ABC" -- -- Iraqi police have accused the US military of killing 15 farm workers during a raid near Baquba, north of Baghdad.

But the US Army says the dead men were all insurgents who had opened fire on soldiers during an operation in the area.

In a statement, the US military says its troops came under small arms fire from a rooftop as they approached a house during a raid near Baquba.

It says soldiers and attack helicopters returned fire, killing 15 insurgents.

But Iraqi police and relatives of the dead men say the victims were poultry farm workers who had been sleeping in the fields when US troops attacked.

Bodies found

Meanwhile, the bodies of two missing US soldiers have been found near Yusufiya, south of Baghdad.

Ministry spokesman General Abdul Aziz Mohammad says the two had been tortured and then killed.

In a statement posted on the Internet, Al Qaeda in Iraq says it cut the men's throats.

The soldiers went missing when insurgents attacked their checkpoint five days ago.

© 2006 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

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