THE US government dispatched its top two foreign policy officials to Iraq yesterday in a dramatic show of support for the country’s emerging government.

Coalition forces backed by a helicopter and jets attacked a safe house being used by suspected foreign insurgents in Iraq, killing 12 militants and a woman, the US military said today.

A militant group in Iraq that claimed it shot down a US Apache helicopter last weekend provided video footage showing that it said were parts of the wreckage, Al-Jazeera television reported today.