Top Iraqi security officials in the city of Falluja have dismissed US claims that a house destroyed by a deadly American air strike was used by al-Qaida fighters.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened."
Brigadier Nuri Abudi, a member of the Falluja Brigade entrusted by the U.S. occupation with imposing security in the city, said evidence showed the destroyed building was the home of an extended Iraqi family. "We inspected the damage, we looked through the bodies of the women and children and elderly. This was a family," he said on Sunday. "There is no sign of foreigners having lived in the house. Zarqawi and his men have no presence in Falluja," he said, referring to Abu Mussab Zarqawi. |