9/17/2004 3:41:00 PM GMT
U.S. jets launched new air strikes overnight on Falluja, killing at least 60 Iraqis, the U.S. military said on Friday.
At least 60 people were killed as U.S. troops continued their vigorous strikes, claiming the are targeting fighters loyal to militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, hospital sources said, stressing that most of the victims were civilians, mainly women and children.
U.S. forces launched several air raids overnight on the village of Zoba, 10 miles Fallujah, demolishing 13 houses, sources said.
"The bodies of 30 people killed in Zoba were brought to Fallujah general hospital as well as 40 wounded," Doctor Ahmed Khalil said. He affirmed that most of the victims were women and children.
Doctors also said that two women were killed and eight people wounded in a separate raid on Fallujah's Shuhada neighborhood, which has been frequently targeted by the U.S. forces.
Several people are still trapped under the ruins of the destroyed houses in Zoba, witnesses said.
Fallujah general hospital, which has received several casualities because of the U.S. relentless air strikes over the past days, was filled with chaotic scenes early Friday as civilians brought their own wounded in and ambulances arrived.
A military statement said that the air strikes on Fallujah were targeting militants linked to Al Zarqawi, a Jordanian who is thought to head a network connected to Al-Qaeda.
"Multi-National Forces - Iraq conducted a successful precision strike tonight on a confirmed Abu Musab Zarqawi terrorist meeting site," it said.
"Sources reported that approximately ninety foreign fighters were at the compound to plan attacks against the Iraqi people, Iraqi security forces and multi-national forces," the statement added.
"The number of foreign fighters killed during the strike is estimated at approximately sixty."
The claim could not be verified and it was not clear whether the death toll reported by the Fallujah hospital included some of the foreign fighters.
The U.S. military said the strikes were carried out at 9:45 pm on Thursday.
The U.S. forces, moreover, did not say exactly where the raid was carried out and there were no immediate reports from the ground.
U.S. forces said earlier that marines and soldiers were sweeping the city of Ramadi searching for weapons and militants belonging to a network linked to Zarqawi.
Over the past few days, more than 200 Iraqis have died in bombings, air strikes and fighting.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said U.S. diplomats and military commanders raised concerns that vote could not go ahead nationwide under the current unrest.
"We don't expect the security situation as it exists now on the 16th of September to be the security situation" on the election day, Powell told the Washington Times, in an interview published on Friday.
According to the Iraqi police an air strike on Thursday night near the village of Qurush, between Baghdad and Falluja, had killed 20 civilians and wounded 43.
According to the Health Ministry, U.S. assaults in and around Falluja had killed at least 44 people.
Reuters television images showed bloodied bodies, many of which were women and children, on hospital beds.
Car bomb targets Iraq police convoy in Baghdad
A man detonated a car packed with explosives in downtown Baghdad as a police convoy drove by, killing five people, officials said.
Six police cars were driving toward the central Rasheed Street when a car coming from Haifa Street drew up to them, said policeman Medhafar Ismail.
"When it reached them, he (the driver) blew himself up," Ismail said. "There was certainly a suicide bomber inside."
According to the Iraqi Health Ministry, five people were killed in the incident and 20 others wounded.
A witness said shrapnel rained down on his shop in the nearby Al-Mutanabbi Street.
"People coming from the blast location said that a car, a Chevrolet type, exploded," said Haqqi Ismael, 25. "Iraqi police and American soldiers are there now."
Security forces sealed off the area.
War illegal
In his interview, Powell challenged U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement that invading Iraq was illegal, saying it was "not a very useful statement to make at this point."
"What does it gain anyone? We should all be gathering around the idea of helping the Iraqis, not getting into these kinds of side issues."