US warplanes bombed a building on the outskirts of the rebel-held town of Fallujah on Sunday, probably killing a "large number" of insurgents who had been shifting weapons, the military said. The strike, the third in just over 24 hours, severely damaged the targeted building, triggering a wave of secondary explosions that indicated ammunition had been stored inside, the army said in a statement. "A large number of enemy fighters are presumed killed," it said.
According to the military, 10 to 15 rebels suspected of links with Iraq's most-wanted man Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi had been present when it struck at about 1:00 am (2200 GMT, Saturday), but it gave no exact casualty figure. The latest onslaught followed two earlier missions around the insurgent-held city, west of Baghdad, again targeting suspected Zarqawi hideouts. A building on the outskirts of Fallujah housing another 15 to 20 rebels who the army said had been conducting military-style training was the scene of one bombing on Saturday evening, while another site was hit late on Friday night. In the latest attack, the US military insisted that special measures were taken to ensure no innocent civilians were caught up in the blasts. "All precautions were made to keep collateral damage to a minimum," it said. |