US air raids destroyed two buildings said to belong to top Islamic militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in the restive Iraqi city of Fallujah yesterday where residents claimed a family of six were killed.
"Multinational force-Iraq struck two adjoining Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi terrorist safe houses in northeast Fallujah," the army said in a statement.
It made no reference to any casualties in the strike, but said that "several Zarqawi terrorists" had been using the buildings to plan attacks.
In Fallujah, a rebel-held city west of Baghdad, locals said they pulled a family of six from the ruins of a house hit in the dawn strike.
"The house was completely destroyed by a missile dropped from an American plane and we have pulled from the rubble the bodies of four children, a woman and a man," said one resident, Bassem Mohammed.
It was impossible to obtain independent confirmation.
US and Iraqi forces believe that Fallujah has provided a refuge for the Jordanian-born Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man, and his followers.
Determined to regain control of the no-go zone, more than 1,000 joint forces have encircled the city for the past week. Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi last week ordered Fallujah residents to surrender Zarqawi or face invasion.
Humanitarian agencies have raised concerns for the welfare of residents in the Sunni Muslim bastion amid near nightly US air raids.
Allawi said Monday his government would send aid worth US$2 million to the city, while the International Committee of the Red Cross said it sent 1.5 tonnes of urgent medical and surgical equipment to a Fallujah hospital.
Jordan has urged US and Iraqi forces to lift their siege to help ease the hardships of residents during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Living conditions have deteriorated along with security in Fallujah, a city of 200,000 people that is often sealed off from the outside world.
Residents who have fled the city warn of food shortages and power black-outs.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber detonated an explosion near a US patrol yesterday, injuring two Iraqi policemen and two US soldiers along the main highway leading to Baghdad's international airport, according to US and Iraqi officials.
The car bomb exploded at 7:45am near a US military convoy and US officials have sealed off the area, according to spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman. Two mortar rounds had landed near the same area about 20 minutes earlier, he said.
In other developments, the highest-ranking soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal pleaded guilty yesterday to five charges of abusing Iraqi detainees at the prison as a two-day court-martial opened at a US base in Baghdad.
US Army reservist Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick, 38, of Buckingham, Virginia, admitted to allegations of conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault, and committing an indecent act.
He was expected to be sentenced today.
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