Baghdad: Iraq's largest Sunni political party has denounced the shooting deaths of two relatives of a provincial governor in a US raid north of Baghdad.

The Iraqi Islamic Party issued a statement on Tueday demanding a probe of the killings of the son and nephew of Hamad Hammoud, the governor of Salahuddin province.

The US military says two armed relatives of the governor were killed Sunday during a raid against Al Qaida in Iraq, and that soldiers acted in self-defence.