Five girls and a baby have been killed in a US raid on a house in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, the US military has told Al Jazeera.

The US military said two armed men had opened fire from the roof of a house on a US patrol disarming a roadside bomb, prompting the soldiers to reply with tank fire on Tuesday.

Following the pre-dawn barrage, US troops carried out "an extensive search of the house and found one male and five females, ages ranging from infant to teenaged, dead", the statement said.

The US military blamed the fighters for the incident.

The raid resulted in no US casualties.

Ramadi is in Anbar province, scene of some of the fiercest fighting between US forces and fighters.

PHOTO CAPTION

Residents cry near a body lying on a street in Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, November 14, 2006. (Reuters)