IRAQ:A bomb hidden in a cart of toys killed two children and wounded 17 others in a playground in northern Iraq yesterday, the first day of a national holiday to celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The attack came the day after US forces killed nine children and six women in an air strike northwest of Baghdad targeting suspected al-Qaeda leaders. The UN mission in Iraq urged US forces to conduct a "vigorous" inquiry into the strike.
Police colonel Abbas Mohammed said a would-be suicide bomber pushed the cart into a play area in the predominantly Shia northern town of Tuz Khurmato. He said the bomber was wounded.
The town's mayor, Mohammed Rasheed, told Reuters two boys aged between 10 and 12 had died and another 17 people under the age of 18 had been wounded in the attack.
A youth with a smashed, bloodied face and mangled hand lay on a hospital bed in the nearby city of Kirkuk after the attack.
The US military said it was conducting a "thorough investigation" of Thursday's strike by attack helicopters near Lake Thar Thar, about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad.
The incident, on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, is likely to reignite tensions between Washington and Baghdad, which has repeatedly criticised US forces over the number of Iraqi civilians killed in military operations.
There was no immediate response from the Iraqi government, which was shut down for the Muslim holiday.
The civilian death toll in the US attack was one of the largest acknowledged by US forces from an air strike since former president Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.
"Civilians are getting caught far too often between warring combatants," said UN mission spokesman Said Arikat.
"We certainly hope that they do pursue this vigorously and that these findings will be made public and lessons learned."
In the same operation, the US military said it also killed 19 insurgents in strikes on two locations. The strikes targeted suspected leaders of al-Qaeda, accused of attacking US and Iraqi forces, tribal leaders and civilians across the country.
Meanwhile, four US congressional committee chairmen yesterday accused the State Department of suppressing information about corruption inside Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's government.
In a letter to the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, the four senior Democrats said that endemic corruption was fueling the Iraqi insurgency, endangering US troops and undermining their chances of success.