The dawn strike, which came five days after a similar operation killed 11 people, targeted around a dozen men in the courtyard of a house in the southwestern part of the city, a US military statement said without indicating if there were any casualties.

A hospital in town said it received five wounded, including two children, after the attack.

The US military said it has conducted seven similar operations over the past month against Jordanian-born Zarqawi's network in Fallujah and that the latest operation was coordinated with the interim government.

At least 23 Iraqis were killed during two previous raids in July.

Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who is on a Middle East tour, arrived in Syria on Friday in a bid to repair the often tumultous relationship with the neigbouring country and to enlist its help in curbing the alleged flow of foreign fighters through the porous borders.

"We must begin a new fraternal and sincere era of cooperation and coordination after the fall of the dictatorial regime in Iraq and the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people," Allawi told reporters.

Both the US military and the Iraqi government blame foreigners entering from neighbouring states for some of the worst and bloodiest attacks over the past 15 months. They have vowed to capture or kill Zarqawi, who has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head.

Allawi has urged Iraq's neighbours to do more to secure borders and combat terror because an unstable Iraq would undermine their security as well.

But Allawi's tough stance on security earned him harsh words from Sadr, who reappeared in Kufa for the Friday sermon after a nearly-two-month absence from public view.

"You have proven that you are just an extension of the occupation," said Sadr as young men raised their fists in the air and cheered his name.

"Damn him and damn the occupier."

Despite Allawi's conciliatory move last Sunday to lift a ban on a Sadr publication, the radical cleric appears to be undecided about whether he will join the political process after a fierce rebellion against the US-led occupation in April and May left hundreds dead.

In further bloodshed, two US soldiers were killed and one wounded when their convoy hit a roadside bomb on Thursday outside Samarra north of Baghdad, the US military said on Friday.

The latest casualties brings to 664 the number of US troops killed in action in Iraq since the start of the US-led war in March 2003, based on Pentagon figures.

Samarra has turned into an insurgency hotbed with US troops and Iraqi police limiting their presence to its outskirts.

In Baghdad, eight people, including a child who lost a leg, were wounded when a vehicle they were travelling in hit a roadside bomb in the northern part of the city.

Further north near Taji, nine Iraqis were killed and 10 injured when their van accidently hit a US tank, according to the military.

In addition to attacks by alleged foreigners and rebels loyal to the former regime of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's interim government is besieged by a wave of hostage-taking that threatens its efforts to rebuild the war-torn country.

Less than 48 hours before a Philippines and Egyptian hostage were released, a group calling itself "The Holders of the Black Banners" said in a videotape received by AFP Thursday that it had taken hostage three Kenyans, three Indians and an Egyptian. The recording could not be authenticated.

On Wednesday, the same group said it would execute the captives one by one if their employer, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport, does not pull out of Iraq.

An official at the trucking company said it would "do all it can to save the lives of these seven drivers and obtain their return."

Kenya said it was confident it would secure the release of the three Kenyans held in Iraq after it urged all its citizens there to leave immediately, while Delhi said it was concerned about the fate of its nationals.

"I don't want to give any false hopes. It is a serious situation and has to be dealt with in a sensitive manner," said India's Foreign Minister Natwar Singh.

Visibly frightened, the latest hostages sent a message home to their families and vowed never to return to the country or work for US-led forces.

"We want to go home, please help us so that we are not cut up into pieces because then you would bear the guilt of orphaning our children," said one of the hostages, speaking in a strong Egyptian accent.

WAR.WIRE