WEST FARGO (AP) - A woman and her seven children have a new house as part of a promise made to her husband, who was killed in Iraq after he helped American soldiers.

Two North Dakota National Guard soldiers stood Saturday in the newly built Habitat for Humanity house beside Fatima Ali, the Iraqi woman they call "Mrs. M." Each put a hand to the wall in a blessing.

Mrs. M's husband, Majid Ali, had invited the North Dakota soldiers into his home in north-central Iraq and provided them with lifesaving information about roadside explosives planted by Iraqi insurgents.

"This family here saved American lives," Sgt. 1st Class Shayne Beckert said, choking up Saturday as he looked at the children. "If it hadn't been for their father, there would have been more parents in North Dakota with hurt in their hearts."

Members of the North Dakota National Guard's 141st Engineer Combat Battalion were on hand three years ago to greet Mrs. M and her children when they arrived in Fargo.

"My children have lost their father," she said. "But I think they will find they have many fathers here."

The North Dakota soldiers had arrived in Iraq in early 2004. Capt. Grant Wilz's platoon of B Company was deployed near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown and a hotspot in the growing insurgency. Its primary assignment was to clear roads of roadside bombs.

The bombs killed two members of B Company: Sgt. Lance Koenig, 33, Fargo, and Specialist Phil Brown, 21, Jamestown. In all, the 141st lost four men in Iraq.

Wilz's platoon was on patrol one day when it happened upon an Iraqi man whose truck had broken down. The Americans searched Majid Ali, grilled him about a weapon they found, and soon were sitting down to supper in his house.

"He was one of the few people you meet in your life you immediately like," Beckert said. "When we showed up, he'd fly out of the house and give us big hugs."

The house was near the soldier's regular patrol route, Wilz said. "The whole patrol would stop in and visit. We'd set up security, provide them with some food and water. Some of the soldiers played soccer with the kids," he said.

When their new friend began providing them with intelligence about where insurgents were placing bombs, they called him Mr. M in reports and conversation, hoping to protect him. But he was pulled from his truck and shot 30 times in the arms, legs, chest and head as his 11-year-old son was made to watch.

The boy said he was told, "This is what happens when you help the Americans."

The soldiers had told Majid Ali to be careful. They worried about him. He smiled and dismissed the warnings, they said, and asked only one thing: "If something happens to me, take care of my family."

Lutheran Social Services sponsored the family and, with other agencies, helped with housing, education and employment. Materials and labor for the house were donated. The soldiers organized fundraisers in Fargo and Bismarck, where Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Gov. John Hoeven grilled hot dogs and bratwurst and helped to raise $100,000.

Habitat for Humanity officials said they bent or broke some rules to build the family's house, a twin home with Mrs. M's brother, Ali Alkaabi, who had come to the U.S. years earlier, and his family occupying the other half.

The family has adjusted to snow and cold. Mrs. M is working, cleaning houses.

"The whole family is learning English, and the kids are doing well in school," Pomeroy said Saturday.

"Today is a triumph of spirit," Hoeven said.

One of the children, Nour, 15, talked about being on the track team at school, enjoying math and science and planning to become a doctor.

"It's nice here," she said. "It's safe."

Zuher, 13, showed off his room, painted a bright green he picked to match the green uniforms of the Iraqi national soccer team. He also has a new University of North Dakota hockey jersey.

"When I go to college," he said, "I'll play for the Sioux."