A U.S. air strike destroyed a building in an insurgent area in southern Baghdad and killed eight suspected terrorists, the U.S. military said on Friday.

A military statement said the attack took place Thursday evening in Baghdad's southern suburb of Arab Jubour, a predominantly Sunni area, after the U.S. troops received "heavy enemy fire during a raid targeting al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq and foreign fighter facilitators."

Eight insurgents barricaded themselves inside one of the buildings and fired on the U.S. ground forces, prompting the troops to call in for air support, the statement said.

"Coalition aircraft dropped precision bombs on the building, resulting in its destruction and the deaths of the eight terrorists," it said.

Source: Xinhua