Iraqis inspect a building that was destroyed in an air raid Friday in a village near Lake Tharthar in Salahuddin province northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. U.S.-led coalition forces killed 20 insurgents, including two women, Friday in an attack targeting al-Qaida in Iraq militants, the U.S. command said.

Baghdad, Iraq ? The U.S. military said 20 insurgents, including two women, were killed in a raid and subsequent airstrike Friday on a predominantly Sunni village northwest of Baghdad, but local officials alleged the dead were civilians – including eight children.

In southern Iraq, British and Danish forces hunted rogue Shiite militiamen blamed for recent attacks, conducting a pre-dawn raid that was described by coalition officials as the largest offensive in the area since the war began.

In the northern battle, U.S.-led coalition forces said they were searching several buildings near Lake Tharthar in Salahuddin province when al-Qaida-linked militants launched an attack. Coalition troops returned fire, killing two insurgents, the U.S. military said.

As the firefight continued, the troops called in airstrikes that killed 18 more fighters, the military said, including two women. “Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately,” the U.S. command’s statement said.

Amir Fayadh, mayor of the village of Ishaqi east of the lake, and local police disputed the claim that the strike only killed insurgents. The mayor said that 19 civilians were among the dead, including seven women and eight children.

An Associated Press photo showed an Iraqi man in blue garb holding up the dusty head of a boy of about 10, identified by villagers as killed in the attack. The boy lay on a floral print quilt, and his right hand poked out from under a piece of fabric, his fingers curled.

Underscoring the deadly nature of the conflict, the military said two soldiers were killed and two were wounded in an explosion south of Baghdad after they left their vehicles to examine a suspected roadside bomb.

In a separate incident, a third U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb Thursday as his patrol conducted joint operations with the Iraqi army in western Baghdad.