IRAQ: US forces in Iraq killed three people in the early hours of yesterday after clashes with guerrillas near the flash-point town of Falluja, west of the capital Baghdad, locals and hospital officials said.
A US soldier taking pictures at the scene of the incident said he had been told a foot patrol had been fired on from a building.
"A gunship was called in which then put fire into the building," he said. "No fire was then received from here."
A US military spokeswoman in Baghdad said she could confirm at least one "enemy fighter" had died.
But local people in the village of Sajir, north of Falluja, said three people had been killed and that all of them were farmers, not guerrillas.
"A family was asleep in the house, which is nowhere near any base or any weapons," declared Mr Sami Aziz, who said his brother was among those killed.
Falluja lies in the volatile "Sunni triangle" north and west of Baghdad where Sunni Muslims predominate.
The region is a bastion of support for ousted leader Saddam Hussein.
Residents and US forces in the area have frequently argued over whether civilians or guerrillas have been the victims of violence in recent months.
Around a thousand people attended the funeral of those killed in yesterday's attack, chanting slogans such as "God is great, America is the enemy of God".
Meanwhile, Iraq's Governing Council yesterday banned the al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya satellite television networks from covering official activities here for two weeks, accusing them of encouraging resistance to the US-led occupation.
A statement released by the US-appointed council said: "Al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya will temporarily be excluded from any coverage of Governing Council activities or official press conferences, and correspondents of the two channels will not be allowed to enter ministries or government offices for two weeks."
The two channels, the Middle East's most popular Arab satellite networks, have angered council members in recent weeks by showing images of masked men calling for attacks against the American-led occupation.
Earlier, the spokesman for the council chairman Mr Ahmed Chalabi, Mr Entifadh Qnabar, rounded on the networks, accusing them of an unacceptable bias in their coverage.
"Our belief is that Iraq, in such a critical situation, cannot afford to sustain such attacks and promotion of sectarianism and political violence," he said.
The concerns of Iraqi officials were highlighted over the weekend when Aqila al-Hashmi, one of three women on the council, was shot and seriously injured by gunmen outside her home.
American administrators have also criticised the networks for giving too much prominence to anti-US attacks. - (Additional reporting: Reuters)