Gunmen killed two Iraqi policemen and wounded two others while US forces wounded 26 bricklayers in Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

"Armed men opened fire at about 4:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) at a civil defense center in Baghdad's eastern Sadr City, killing two policemen and wounding two others," an Interior ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In a separate incident, the US forces fired at a group of bricklayers at about 5:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) in Alawi district in central Baghdad, wounding 26 of them, the source said.

The US troops told the Iraqi police that they had shot at " terrorists".

"But when our patrols reached the scene they discovered the wounded people were bricklayers who left home early looking for work," the source said.

Source: Xinhua