国际英语新闻：18 people killed in violence across Iraq

BAGHDAD, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Eighteen people were killed and 14 others wounded Wednesday in bomb attacks and gunfire across Iraq, shaping a setback of Iraq's security after Washington declared the end of combat operations in the country two weeks ago.

In the early hours of the day, a joint U.S. and Iraqi force raided three houses in the city of Fallujah in the western Anbar province at about 2:00 a.m. local time (2300 GMT on Tuesday), killing eight people and wounding four others, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The raid targeted the house of Yassin Kassar, a lieutenant colonel in former president Saddam Hussein's army, in the neighborhood of Jubail, some 50 km west of Baghdad, the source said.

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers stormed Kassar's house and two neighboring houses, killing eight people, including Kassar and a 75 years old woman, and wounding four others, the source added.

The joint force withdrew from the targeted houses and took four bodies with them, and the Iraqi local police took the other bodies to the morgue.

Meanwhile, the source denied media reports earlier in the day which said that there was gun battle between the troops and gunmen inside the houses during the raid, saying "there was no resistance at all."

The U.S. military confirmed the raid in Fallujah and said that an investigation would be started, without giving further details about the incident.