Six people have been killed in a US air strike near the Iraqi town of Samarra, with some reports suggesting they were US-allied anti-al-Qaeda Sunni fighters.

The US denied claims by a police source and a militia member that those killed at the checkpoint were members of an Awakening Council.

The US-funded groups are credited with helping to curb the level of violence.

It came as four more US soldiers were killed in Iraq, bringing the death toll since the 2003 invasion close to 4,000.

Three soldiers died when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle near Baghdad on Saturday, the US military said.

Another US soldier died after a rocket or mortar attack on Friday.

Denial

Independent website icasualties.org - which keeps a count of US deaths in Iraq - says the latest American fatalities would bring the death toll to 3,996.

Iraq this week marked the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion.

US President George W Bush said the invasion had been "the right decision" and had made the world better.

He said the US military's co-operation with Sunni Arab militias was yielding the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama Bin Laden, and that last year's US troop surge had opened the door to a major strategic victory.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the "liberation of Iraq" by US-led forces had been the start of a new era, but he also warned that today's Iraq was still gravely threatened.

The campaign group, Iraq Body Count, says the civilian death toll since March 2003 is between 82,000 and 89,000, although it warns many deaths may have gone unreported.

Source: BBC News

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