Residents gather around a house reduced to a pile of rubble, in the village of Aitha, Iraq, south of Mosul, Saturday.

Another reason why the uncivilized George Bush & American Military Power must be broken - it's defeat must start in the cradle of civilization that was Iraq. Today it is Iraqis being slaughtered, tomorrow it may be us. Four more years of Bush is a very long and dangerous time.

AITHA, Iraq - An explosion at a house south of Mosul killed 14 people and wounded five early Saturday, the owner said. The house owner, Ali Yousef, said the strike happened at about 2:30 a.m. in this village 30 miles south of Mosul and American troops immediately came and surrounded the area, blocking access for four hours. The brick house was reduced to a pile of rubble, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene. By evening Saturday, all 14 dead -- including seven children -- had been buried in a nearby cemetery, Yousef said.

• The U.S. military confirmed that an air strike hit the building, but said five people died. During a cordon and search operation to capture an insurgent lead, a U.S. air force F-16 dropped a 500-pound guided bomb in the area south of Mosul on the house intended for search, a military statement said. "The house was not the intended target for the air strike. The intended target was another location nearby," the statement said. "Responding forces reported that five individuals died in the strike."

• Earlier Saturday, militants abducted three senior Iraqi officials, beheaded a man who worked for the U.S. military, and killed four people in a suicide car bombing south of Baghdad, officials said.