Iraq: US aircraft blasted the rebel stronghold of Falluja for a third time in 24 hours yesterday in an effort to hit militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Washington's number one enemy in Iraq.
The air strike was aimed at 10 suspected militants meeting in the city centre to plan operations, the US military said.
Eight people were killed and 17 wounded, said Dr Anas Ahmed, a doctor at a nearby hospital.
Doctors also said the latest in what the military calls "precision strikes" raised the death toll for the attacks to 15 killed and 30 wounded, among them women and children.
Zarqawi's group, Tawhid and Jihad, has claimed many of the car bombings and attacks in Iraq over the past year, including kidnappings in which several of the hostages have been beheaded.
Falluja, about 30 miles west of Baghdad, is home to some of Iraq's most hardened Sunni Muslim militants.
A senior US military official said more than 100 of Zarqawi's followers had been killed or captured in Falluja in the last four weeks. He said reports of civilian casualties from air strikes had been exaggerated.
The US military believes the Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who has a $25 million price on his head, is in Falluja and co-ordinating activities from there. His group seized Mr Kenneth Bigley along with two Americans and a Briton from their home in Baghdad 10 days ago, demanding the release of women prisoners from Iraqi jails in return for their lives.
Meanwhile, the US military said a soldier based near Tikrit, in northern Iraq, had been jailed for 25 years for the murder in May this year of a member of the Iraqi National Guard.
It said Specialist Federico Merida pleaded guilty to murder and making false statements during his court martial. Merida was also dishonourably discharged and reduced in rank to private.
North of Baghdad, the US military arrested a commander of the Iraqi National Guard in Baquba, a hotbed of insurgency. The military said yesterday that Lieut-Gen Talib Al Lahibi was detained on Thursday for associating with known insurgents.
In Baghdad, a rocket landed in a shopping street in the city centre, killing one person and wounding several. - (Reuters)