A U.S. airstrike bombed militants' hideouts in the volatile province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, killing 13 suspected insurgents, an Iraqi police source said on Friday.

The airstrike took place on Thursday when Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops raided an area south of the capital city of Baquba, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops found bunkers and tunnels used by militants as hideouts, the source said.

U.S. aircraft was called in to bomb the hideouts, killing 13 suspected militants, the source added.

The troops searched the site after the airstrike and found a cache of weapons, munitions and parts to build improvised explosive devices.

A medical source in Baquba Hospital told Xinhua that the hospital received 11 bodies of men killed by a U.S. airstrike in an area located south of Baquba, some 60 km northeast of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, a U.S. spokesman said briefly on Friday that an airstrike targeted suspected insurgents who were hiding near several bunkers in Diyala province, killing at least 11 insurgents.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2009)