A US air strike killed about 25 suspected Iraqi militants linked to Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias today and another 12 alleged al Qaeda fighters were killed in separate raids.
The US military said it had lost four soldiers across Iraq. Roadside bombs killed one soldier in the town of Baiji while three more died in Baghdad.
US troops said they were engaged in a heavy firefight west of Baquba, capital of volatile Diyala province north of the capiotal, during a dawn raid against a commander it said was linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Qods force.
The US military also said it had killed 12 suspected al Qaeda in Iraq fighters during separate strikes in Baghdad and Yusifiya north of the capital today.
In Salahuddin next to Diyala, police said Sheikh Muawiya Jebara, a Sunni Arab tribal leader who had worked with US forces in forming local police units to fight Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, had died of wounds suffered in a bomb attack yesterday.
"In the Baquba operation, support aircraft were called in when US soldiers came under attack from militants, with one insurgent thought to have an anti-aircraft weapon.
"Perceiving hostile intent, support aircraft engaged, killing an estimated 25 criminals and destroying two buildings," a US statement said.
Police and hospital sources said 25 people were killed and another 35 wounded in the air strike in the village of Jezan al-Imam near Khalis, a town northwest of Baquba. They said four houses were also destroyed.
Police sources said most of the dead were men, disputing Iraqi television reports that women and children were among civilian casualties.
The operation early on Friday targeted what the U.S. military called a "special groups" commander, a term it often uses to describe militants it says are linked to Iran.