8 family members killed by U.S. choppers south of Tikrit

SALAH EL-Din (Iraq News)- Eight members of one family were killed on Friday when U.S. helicopters shelled their house in south of Tikrit, a police source said. “ U.S. choppers shelled a house in al-Dour district in south of Tikrit, killing eight members of the same family, in addition to destroying the house,” the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told IraqiNews.com. For his part, Abdellatif Rayan, the U.S. army’s media adviser, told the Iraqi News that he knows nothing about the incident and a statement will be released as soon as receiving information. Salah al-Din has an area of 24,751 square kilometers (9,556.4 sq mi). The estimated population for 2003 was 2,146,500 people. Located in Central Iraq, north of Baghdad , it is a mainly Sunni province with only two Shiite districts, namely Balad and al-Dujail. Its capital city is Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. It also includes other important districts like Baiji, north of Tikrit , 175 km north of Baghdad . The province also contains the significantly larger city of Samarra . Before 1976 the province was part of the governorate of Baghdad . It is named after Saladin (written Salah ah Din in modern Arabic), an ethnic Kurd and hero of the 12 th century. Salahuddin province is a variant version of the province’s name.