US troops killed nine people, including a family, after their patrol was ambushed in an Iraqi town early yesterday, Iraqi police said. Police said three of the victims were a 13-year-old boy and his parents who were shot dead when US soldiers entered their house in the Sunni town of Duluiya, about 90 km north of Baghdad.

?A patrol of US forces was attacked by gunmen using rocket propelled grenades,? Duluiya police said. They said three of the victims were young men, but it was not immediately clear whether they were militants or civilians. Six people were also wounded in the fighting and seven detained for questioning. The US military said it was checking the report.

A Reuters reporter in the town said there was heavy gunfire and the sound of explosions from 2 a.m. until 4 a.m. When the fighting died down, residents emerged from their homes as US troops backed by armored fighting vehicles occupied the town. The reporter said at least three houses had been damaged in the fighting.

As helicopters hovered overhead, US troops handed out leaflets saying they did not regard Sunnis as their enemy and that they wanted to withdraw from Iraq as soon as the country's newly formed army was able to stand on its own feet.

It also asked residents to give them information about the activities of insurgents, who are waging a campaign against the Shi?ite- and Kurdish-led interim government.