A US raid north of the capital Wednesday killed 11 people - most of them women and children, said police and relatives of the victims.
The American military confirmed the attack but said only four people died - a man, two women and a child.
Police Capt. Laith Mohammed said the attack near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, involved US warplanes and armor that flattened a house in the village of Isahaqi.
An Associated Pressreporter at the scene said the roof of the house had collapsed, three cars were destroyed and two cows were killed.
The 11 victims were wrapped in blankets and driven in three pickup trucks to the Tikrit General Hospital, about 45 miles to the north, relatives said.
Photographs showed the bodies of two men, five children and four other covered figures arriving at the hospital accompanied by grief-stricken relatives. The victims were covered in dust with bits of rubble tangled in their hair.
The US military claimed the target of the raid was a man suspected of supporting foreign fighters of the al-Qaeda in Iraq.
AP