(Updates with details)

By Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said it killed 11 people in a helicopter attack on a group of men seen planting a roadside bomb north of Baghdad on Tuesday, but police and residents said the dead were farmers, women and children.

The U.S. military acknowledged that five women and one child were among those killed but blamed militants for using their home as a safe haven to escape attack by U.S. forces. It said a known member of a roadside bomb cell was also killed.

The air strike was the third resulting in civilian deaths in two weeks and comes as the U.S. military's reliance on airpower to target militants is under increased scrutiny from the Iraqi government and the United Nations mission in Iraq.

U.N. officials have expressed concern at the number of civilians killed in air strikes and said more care must be taken in military operations to protect them.

Major Peggy Kageleiry, the U.S. military spokeswoman in northern Iraq, said an Apache attack helicopter had spotted five men planting a roadside bomb near the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of the Iraqi capital.

The helicopter had "engaged" the men and continued firing as they ran into a nearby house.

"They chose to go into a house with civilians to hide. They endangered folks on the ground by doing that. We send condolences to the families of those victims and we regret any loss of life," she said.

HOUSE DESTROYED

Police and residents of the village of Djila, however, gave a different account, saying the group of men attacked by the helicopter were three farmers who had left their homes at 4.30 a.m. (0130 GMT) to irrigate their fields.

Two were killed in the initial air strike and the survivor ran back to his home, where other residents then gathered, said Abdul al-Rahman Iyadeh, a relative of the victims.

The second air strike completely destroyed the house, killing 14 people, including six members of the Ibrahim Jassim family and five from another, he told Reuters.

A local police officer, Captain Abdullah al-Isawi, put the death toll at 16 -- seven men, six women and three children.

The U.S. military is already investigating another deadly air strike in which nine children and six women were killed on Oct. 11 during an operation targeting senior leaders of al Qaeda 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

The Iraqi government has also protested against a weekend raid by U.S. forces in the Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City, in which U.S. troops backed by attack helicopters said they killed 49 gunmen. Police put the toll at 13 and said they were all civilians, including two toddlers.

Critics say U.S. forces often call in air strikes on buildings where militants are believed to be hiding without taking reasonable care to find out who else might be inside.

The U.S. military says militants deliberately use civilians as shields against attacking U.S. forces.

(Additional reporting by Ross Colvin)

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