10/20/2004 4:06:00 PM GMT
U.S. warplanes fired two rockets on an Iraqi family’s house on Wednesday, killing the family's six members, neighbor Saeed Mohammed Bassem said.
Rescue workers dug the bodies of six members of one family -- a couple and their four children -- out of the ruins of the destroyed house in Fallujah that was hit by U.S. jets on Wednesday, witnesses said.
The house was completely flattened in one of the recent U.S. deadly air strikes on the rebel-held town of Fallujah, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad.
The family’s six members had just returned to their home overnight after having fled the troubled city a week earlier, the witness added.
Shortly after the first raid, a U.S. jet fired a rocket at the Female Teachers' Preparation Institute in the Jumhuriya area but it did not detonate, said police officer Mohsen Adnan.
And again, the U.S. military issued a statement saying that the recent raids were targeting houses used by Al Zarqawi and his associates.
U.S. have always claimed that their strikes were carefully carried out, targeting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his network members. But, Fallujah residents repetitively complained that those strikes only killed innocent civilians including women and children. Local doctors have supported these complaints.
Fallujah leaders also asserted that they know nothing about Al Zarqawi -- some of them even doubt he does exist .
The Iraqi city Fallujah is out of the control of U.S. and the Iraqi government forces, however, both have been stepping up attacks in an attempt to regain the upper hand ahead of the country’s elections, due to be held in January.