US air strikes have targeted houses in the Iraqi southern city of Basra, killing at least 6 civilians and wounding 3 more, police say.

Witnesses said that US helicopters raided houses in Basra's Hayaniya district. The air raids killed six civilians and injured another three.

The US air strikes have left many Iraqi civilians dead and wounded since March 25 when the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has been involved in fierce clashes with US troops and Iraqi forces after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a security crackdown in the southern city of Basra.

Al-Sadr points the finger of blame at US forces as the single cause of Iraq conflicts, demanding an end to the US-led occupation of Iraq and calling on the Iraqi government to back its people to rid the land of the occupiers.

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