Local officials said 45 civilians, including women and children, perished in the attack.

American forces launched the attack after intelligence showed suspected insurgents were assembled in two safe houses for foreign fighters north east of Amiriyah, 40 kilometres west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

The military said five militants were detained and a weapons cache including armour-piercing ammunition was found in an initial raid on a nearby target.

That operation was followed by the airstrike on the two suspected safe houses in which the military said 13 insurgents died.

Police and hospital officials in the area offered a conflicting accounts, saying the airstrike hit the village of Zaidan, south of Abu Ghraib and flattened four houses, killing 45 people, including women, children and old people.

Thamir al-Dulaimi, a doctor, said 20 other civilians from the village were being treated at Fallujah hospital.