US air strike hits Falluja twice

Iraqis look at the damage to buildings destroyed in the center of the rebel-held city of Fallujah, yesterday following a US military air raid. The US military launched two air strikes on Fallujah, flattening two buildings which the military described as hideouts for Iraq's most wanted insurgent, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. PHOTO: AFP

Witnesses said bombs flattened the popular Haji Hussein kebab house on Falluja's main street, killing two guards and reducing it to a pile of crushed concrete and twisted metal.

The US military said it was a "precision strike" on a meeting place for militants loyal to Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has a $25 million US bounty on his head.

"Zarqawi does not come here. Where is Zarqawi? We have not seen Zarqawi," yelled one Falluja resident after the US raid.

Zarqawi's group has claimed some of Iraq's bloodiest suicide bombings, as well as the beheadings of foreign hostages, including Briton Kenneth Bigley, who was killed Thursday.

Bigley's body was dumped south of Baghdad the following day, insurgent sources said Tuesday. The British embassy said it had still not recovered the Briton's remains.

US and Iraqi forces have been combing a deadly area south of Baghdad in the past week. It includes Mahmudiya, Latifiya, where the sources said Bigley was killed.

US marines foiled an attempted suicide car bombing near Yusufiya Monday, the military said. The marines shot at a vehicle speeding toward them and it exploded.

In a videotape aired Monday, Iraqi militants beheaded a Turkish contractor they said co-operated with US forces.

Falluja representatives were due to meet interim government officials Tuesday in the latest of a series of talks to put Iraqi security forces back in control of the rebellious city.

Chief Falluja negotiator Sheikh Khaled al-Jumaili reported progress in talks with Defense Minister Hazim al-Shaalan and Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih Monday.

"We have a final round of talks today and expect to make an announcement on a truce," he said.

Previous truce deals have failed to calm Falluja.

In Baghdad, Shia fighters handed in more weapons to police in the sprawling slums of Sadr City under a deal that could end weeks of clashes with US forces there, police said.

The US-backed government led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is determined to pacify troublespots across Iraq ahead of nationwide elections scheduled for January.