BASRA, Iraq, April 26 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iraqis protested against U.S. forces on Sunday after U.S. soldiers killed a man and a woman in an overnight raid that was condemned by the provincial governor.

The U.S. military said it targeted "special groups" fighters, or elite Shi'ite militiamen the United States says are funded and armed by Iran, in a raid on their house early Sunday in the city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

In a statement, the military said U.S. troops had shot and killed a man suspected of being behind supplying weapons to the Shi'ite fighters. One woman was killed in the crossfire and six suspected militants were arrested, it said.

As a funeral procession made its way through Kut carrying the cloth-draped coffins of the two people killed in the raid, protesters shouted angry slogans and demanded the release of the seized men, calling Americans "criminal occupiers."

"We condemn this horrific incident. It violates the agreements between U.S. forces and the Iraqi government," said Latif al-Tarfa, governor of Wasit province. "Innocent people were killed and the city is now very tense."

U.S. First Lieutenant John Brimley said the women killed "was in the area during the engagement with a suspect, and moved into the line of fire ... A medic treated her on site, but she died of her wounds before she could be evacuated."

Another U.S. military statement said the operation had been approved by the Iraqi government.

But Iraqi police Major Aziz al-Amara, who commands a rapid reaction force in Kut, said all of those targeted in the raid were innocent. One of those arrested was a police captain.

"They were poor people. They do not cause any political or security problems," he said.

The raid came just months before U.S. combat troops are due to withdraw entirely from Iraqi cities.

Such U.S. raids are authorised under a new U.S.-Iraq security pact but only with Iraqi approval.

Kut and surrounding Wasit province were the last area south of Baghdad to be handed over to Iraqi forces last October.

Wasit province was the scene of fighting during an uprising by followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in March and April last year, but like other parts of the south has since become largely quiet while Sadr's followers observe a ceasefire. (Reporting by Aref Mohammed; Additional reporting by Tim Cocks and Aseel Kami; Writing by Tim Cocks)

AlertNet news is provided by