American forces launched a "precision strike" yesterday on insurgents tied to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the restive western Iraqi city of Fallujah, the US military said.
The military said in a statement sent to reporters that the attack was conducted in coordination with the Iraqi government.
"Based on multiple sources of intelligence, the attack targeted 10-12 terrorists with known ties to the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi network of foreign terrorists," the statement said.
"The anti-Iraqi forces were struck while in the courtyard of a house; the house was left intact," the statement added.
In what appeared to be the same incident, Kamal Al-Ani, of Fallujah hospital, said five civilians -- including three children -- were injured yesterday morning after an American warplane fired a missile that landed in the garden of a house in the Jubail neighborhood, south of Fallujah. The US military reported no casualties.
"We were sleeping in the morning when a US missile hit our house," said Saddam Jassim, the owner of the house targeted in the attack, said as he and his brother were clearing debris caused by the missile attack.
"We have nothing to do with resistance or al-Zarqawi. These are pretext used by US military to terrorize the people in Fallujah because US soldiers are unable to face the insurgents."
Meanwhile, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Thursday that Iraq would like Arab and Islamic countries to contribute soldiers to a UN security contingent as well as the multinational force.
Allawi told reporters he had asked the Egypt to provide troops to protect UN staff when they return to Iraq, but Egyptian officials indicated that Iraq should first bring its insurgency under control.
The Egyptian response, the latest of repeated rebuffs, came a day after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the world body had not received a single commitment of troops for an Iraqi operation.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS