Monday, October 17 2005 16:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: US helicopters and warplanes bombed two villages near the city of Ramadi, a hotbed of Sunni-Arab insurgents west of Baghdad, killing around 70 Iraqis, the military said today (Oct 17, 2005).

The military said all the dead were militants, though witnesses said at least 39 were civilians.

The violence occurred yesterday (Oct 16, 2005), a day after Iraq voted on - and apparently passed - a landmark constitution that many Sunnis opposed. On referendum day, a roadside bomb killed five US soldiers in a vehicle in the Al-Bu Ubaid village on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi.

Yesterday, a group of around two dozen Iraqis gathered around the wreckage of the US vehicle and were hit by the air strikes by US planes, both the military and witnesses said.

The military said that the crowd was setting another roadside bomb in the location of the blast that killed the Americans. F-15 warplanes hit them with a precision-guided bomb, killing around 20 men, described by US as 'terrorists.'

But several witnesses and one local leader said the people were civilians who had gathered to gawk at the wreckage of the US vehicle or pick pieces off of it.

The air strike hit the crowd, killing 25 people, said Chiad Saad, a tribal leader, and several witnesses who refused to give their names.

The other deaths occurred in the village of Al-Bu Faraj. The military said a group of gunmen opened fire on a Cobra attack helicopter that had spotted their position.

The Cobra returned fire, killing around 10. The men ran into a nearby house, where gunmen were seen unloading weapons. An F/A-18 warplane struck the building with a bomb, killing 40 insurgents, the military said.