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November 21, 2008 4:04:16 PM CST

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US Air Strike Kills 6 Sunni Allies

Posted Mar 22, 08 2:50 PM CDT in World 

(Newser) – US helicopters opened fire on two checkpoints manned by a pro-American group today, killing six members of the Sons of Iraq and injuring two civilians. The attack could exacerbate already strained tensions between the US and the Awakening Councils it employs, CNN reports. The US said that its helicopter opened fire after it spotted five people “conducting suspicious terrorist activity.”

US and Iraqi forces also promised a joint investigation of the incident. The Sons of Iraq and other Awakening Council groups like them are paid by the US to help with Iraqi security. The groups have recently been threatening to strike over late payments and neglect. Elsewhere, three US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb, bringing the US death toll to 3,996.

Source CNN

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Awakening council members, a Sunni group fighting al-Qaida, inspect the site where six of their comrades were killed in a US airstrike near Samarra, Iraq.   (AP Photo/Hameed Rasheed)
Awakening council members, a Sunni group fighting al-Qaida, stand around the bodies of six of their comrades killed in a U.S. air strike near Samarra, Iraq, Saturday, March 22, 2008.   (AP Photo/Hameed Rasheed)
Awakening council members, a Sunni group fighting al-Qaida, grieve for their six comrades who were killed in a US airstrike near Samarra, Iraq, Saturday, March 22, 2008.   (AP Photo/Hameed Rasheed)
A U.S. airstrike struck checkpoints manned by U.S.-allied Sunni fighters north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing six guards and wounding two, Iraqi police said.   (AP Photo/Hameed Rasheed)
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