Story Highlights • Iraqi troops call in U.S. airstrike after call to tip line about militia fighters
• Fighting against Shiite militias in Diwaniya in its second day
• Ramadi official says Friday chlorine truck bomb killed 35, injured 40
• U.S. military reports two soldiers killed, seven wounded Friday in Baghdad
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. warplanes struck suspected insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya on Saturday, the U.S. military said.
Residents in the predominantly Shiite city used a hotline to tip off authorities that insurgents carrying grenade launchers were in the area, the military said. Iraqi soldiers then took action.
"The troops made positive identification of the militiamen and called for the airstrike," a military statement said.
Iraqi police told The Associated Press that at least one civilian was killed and five seriously injured when a U.S. tank fired on a house in Diwaniya. The U.S. military had no immediate comment on any civilian casualties, AP reported.
The airstrike is part of a military crackdown on insurgents in Diwaniya, which is known to be home to Shiite militias. The operation is being led by Iraqi soldiers and supported by coalition soldiers and paratroopers.
U.S. troops swept into the troubled city before dawn Friday, killing three militia fighters and capturing 27 people, the U.S. military said. The attack -- named Operation Black Eagle -- is targeting gunmen loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The U.S. military also said troops found a site where powerful explosives were being assembled.
A spokesman for al-Sadr said Saturday that militia fighters in Diwaniya had destroyed three American vehicles and captured a robot used to detonate roadside bombs, AP reported.
More deadly suicide bombings
North of Baghdad on Saturday, five Iraqi police officers were killed when a suicide car bomber slammed into a police checkpoint in Samarra, local emergency police told CNN.
The chief of police in Ramadi on Saturday reported the death toll from a suicide attack in the city west of Baghdad on Friday rose to 35 people, with 40 wounded. An official also revealed the bomber had detonated a truck carrying chlorine gas.
Ramadi Chief of Police Gen. Tarqi al-Thibawi told CNN many of the victims were women and children, but he could not give an exact breakdown. Many children who had just left school were crowded in the area of the explosion, he said.
The suicide bomber set off a truck carrying chlorine gas cylinders, the Iraq Interior Ministry official said. Part of a three-story residential building collapsed and many nearby shops were damaged, the chief of police said.
Sunni Arab insurgents began using chlorine gas in vehicle bombings this year in Anbar province, where Ramadi is located, and in Baghdad.
The U.S. military reported Saturday that two U.S. soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded Friday in separate bomb explosions around Iraq's capital. All were Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldiers.
Since the war began four years ago, there have been 3,270 U.S. military deaths, including seven civilian employees of the Defense Department. (Watch why more National Guard units will go to Iraq )
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Basim Mahdi contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
U.S. warplanes bombed suspected Iraqi insurgents in the Iraqi city of Diwaniya on Saturday. The reports from the United States military stated that the insurgents were armed with rocket propelled grenades and were a danger to their forces in the southern city of Diwaniya, 110 miles (177 kilometres) south of Baghdad.

The United States military said that residents in the predominantly Shi'ite city tipped them off to the arrival of insurgents carrying rocket propelled grenades in the area. "The troops made positive identification of the militiamen and called for the air strike," a military statement said.

A U.S. military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Bleichwehl, said:



In a statement the Iraqi police informed The Associated Press that one civilian was killed and five seriously injured when a U.S. tank fired upon a house in Diwaniya. The air strike was a part of a military program on insurgents located in the city of Diwaniya, which is widely known to be the home of Shi'ite insurgents. It is spearheaded by the new Iraqi army and is supported by soldiers and paratroopers within the coalition.

U.S. troops and Iraqi soldiers stormed the city before dawn on Friday the 6th of April, killing three insurgents and capturing 27 people, the U.S. military said. Code named Operation Black Eagle, the operation is targeting insurgents loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Among the discoveries and captures the assault force in Diwaniya came upon a site where powerful explosives were being assembled.

A spokesman for al-Sadr stated that on Saturday militia fighters in Diwaniya had destroyed three American vehicles and captured a robot used to detonate roadside bombs.