At least three people, two of them children, were killed in a U.S. air strike in Iraq's main southern city of Basra on Friday, an AFP photographer said.

The strike was in the city's northern Al-Haiyaniyah neighborhood which has seen fierce clashes between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi forces for the past 10 days.
U.S. and British militaries confirmed the air strike.
British military spokesman Major Tom Holloway said a U.S. Apache helicopter carried out an air strike in Haiyaniyah but had no word on any casualties.
Pictures taken by the AFP photographer showed badly mangled bodies of a man and two children killed in the strike.
Holloway said the U.S. helicopter was called in after militants clashed with Iraqi forces in the neighborhood at around 16:35 pm (1335 GMT).
""We believe the enemy we were engaging were killed,"" he said.
When asked about the deaths of the man and two children, Holloway said only: ""They had militiamen on the rooftops engaging the Iraqi army.""
The U.S. military said one ""criminal was killed in the strike"" and there were ""no civilian casualties.""
Critics say the U.S. policy of deliberately targeting civilian areas because there could be alleged suspects there is not excusable. Critics also note that many US forces themselves are present in mainly civilian areas, drawing insurgent fire.
U.S. forces have carried out a series of air strikes in Basra since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered an offensive against Shiite militia in the southern oil hub on March 25.
The fighting died down after Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his militiamen off the streets today.
Sporadic clashes have continued however.
(Source: middle east online)