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US air strike on restive Iraq city of Fallujah kills eight
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) Jul 05, 2004
 A US warplane dropped three bombs on a house in the volatile Iraqi city of Fallujah late Monday, killing eight people and wounded three others, the military and local residents said.

"Multi-national forces conducted a coordinated air strike against a Mujahedeen safe house at 7:15 pm (1515 GMT) today in Fallujah," a military spokesman said, confirming it was the fifth such raid on the Sunni Muslim bastion in two weeks.

"Four 500-pound (227 kilogram) bombs and two 1,000-pound bombs were dropped."

The raid hit the southeastern Shuhada neighborhood in Fallujah, where previous air strikes targeted suspected safe houses of Al-Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

"I saw eight bodies pulled out," said volunteer Amer Hassan as he lifted debris frantically and dozens searched for people buried in the wreckage.

"I saw at least three people were injured."

The military statement made no explicit reference to Zarqawi, but spoke of Islamic fighters or Mujahedeen (holy warriors).

In April, Fallujah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad, suffered fierce fighting between marines and insurgents that left hundreds killed and wounded.

The battles ended when US marines left the city and handed local control to an ad-hoc force of veterans of former president Saddam Hussein's army, called the Fallujah Brigade.

But the new brigade has included a mix of insurgents and Muslim clerics who have imposed a draconian form of Islamic law in Fallujah, where people are flogged in public for drinking alcohol, among other offenses.

The US military estimates it has killed dozens of Zarqawi operatives in its previous air strikes, but locals claim only civilians have died in the attacks.

The multinational forces have blamed Zarqawi for at least 30 attacks in Iraq, including the March suicide bombings in the cities of Karbala and Baghdad that killed some 170 people, on the bloodiest day of the insurgency.

Zarqawi heads his own militant faction named Tawhid wal Jihad (Unification and Holy War) which claimed responsibility for two huge car bombings in Iraq last month, as well as the beheading of a South Korean hostage.

In a sign of Washington's determination to catch Zarqawi, it has boosted the reward for his capture from 10 million dollars to 25 million dollars.

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