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Blood stained the dusty earth Monday as anguished villagers on the outskirts of farming town near Iraq buried loved ones they say were killed by an American helicopter raid inside Syria.

The Syrian government called the deadly raid an act of "criminal and terrorist aggression," but the Iraqi government said "anti-Iraq terror" activity had taken place in this area just across the border on the Euphrates River.

It came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq called the Syrian border an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq and efforts were being stepped up to secure it.

The raid appeared to take the Baghdad government by surprise and intensified worries that it could be used as ammunition for critics of the troubled U.S.-Iraqi security deal.

Syria said four U.S. military helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction just after sundown Sunday about five miles from the Iraqi border just outside Sukkariyeh.

A statement by the government said eight people were killed. However, local officials said seven men were killed and two others wounded, including a woman among the injured. An Associated Press journalist at Monday's funerals in the village's cemetery saw the bodies of seven men, which family members later buried.

A U.S. military official in Washington confirmed Sunday that special forces had conducted a raid in Syria that targeted the network of al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving into Iraq. The American military in Baghdad said it did not have any information.

Amateur video taken by a villager on a mobile phone at the scene showed four helicopters flying toward the site as villagers point to the skies in alarm. An Associated Press journalist at the attack site in far eastern Syria saw the grainy video Monday. It didn't show the helicopters landing.

Another villager told the AP he saw at least two men at the scene taken into custody by U.S. forces, and whisked away by helicopter. The villager spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his life.

In London, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem offered harsh words for Washington.

"This to us is cowboy politics," al-Moallem told reporters after meeting his British counterpart. "I hope it doesn't come to a confrontation, but if that's what they want, then we'll be ready."

Iran also condemned the attack as did Russia, which has had close ties with Syria since Soviet times.

Iraqi officials said they had no advance warning on the raid, and the government responded carefully to the aftermath, seeking to contain possible diplomatic damage with Syria while at the same time not offending the U.S.

Chief spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq was seeking good relations with Syria but added that Baghdad had asked the Syrians in the past to "hand over terror groups operating on Syrian territory."

He also noted that the attack occurred in an area where "anti-Iraq terror activity" had taken place.

"We cannot judge this operation at the moment. Our information comes from the media for the time being, and there maybe some confusion there," he said. "We must wait for our investigation to finish. We are in touch with the American side and we expect them to hand us a report on the raid."

U.S. and Iraqi officials have long been concerned about infiltration across the Syrian border. Those concerns mounted after insurgents ambushed a minibus carrying Iraqi police recruits last May, killing 11 of them in an attack about 20 miles from the Syrian border.

American special operations troops have been working for months trying to shut down Sunni extremist networks that smuggle weapons and fighters through the Jazira desert of northern Iraq to Mosul, were al Qaeda and other Sunni militants remain active.

But the timing of the raid raised concerns it could hurt the uncertain U.S.-Iraq security agreement.

Syria and its regional ally Iran have expressed concern that a long-term U.S. presence could allow the Americans to use Iraq as a staging ground for attacks against its neighbors.

The Iraqis have insisted that this would not be allowed, but the raid may encourage Tehran and Damascus to step up the pressure on Iraq to reject any deal.

Parliament must approve the measure before the U.N. mandate expires Dec. 31, but Iraqi Shiite lawmakers have expressed doubts the current version would pass.

"Now neighboring countries have a good reason to be concerned about the continued U.S. presence in Iraq," Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman told The Associated Press.

During the funeral processions for seven men on Monday, angry family members and villagers shouted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading: "Down with Bush and the American enemy."

Villager Jumaa Ahmad al-Hamad told the AP he was walking Sunday when he saw four helicopters, two of which landed.

"Shooting then started ringing for more than 10 minutes," al-Hamad said Monday. After the troops stopped firing and left the area, he and other villagers went to the site and discovered the bodies of his uncle, Dawoud al-Hamad, and four of his uncle's sons, whom he said were killed in the raid.

Local wool vendor Khaled Hamid denied al Qaeda was in the area and accused Washington of launching the raid in the border region that is home to corn and wheat farms to cover up "failures in Iraq."

"They just want to weaken Syria but they cannot. We are a united people," he told the AP while standing near the building that villagers said was the site of Sunday's raid. A wall surrounding the structure was riddled with bullet holes.

There was no visible security presence Monday and visitors could move freely, indicating the normally tightly restricted country wanted people to see the damage.

Less than a mile from the site, about 30 women dressed in black wept in a small courtyard outside Dawoud al-Hamad's one-story family home.

"They were innocent laborers who worked from dusk to dawn," said the man's wife, Rima.
By ZEINA KARAM Associated Press Writer