'32 dead' as US forces strike Fallujah hideouts
US forces pounded suspected hideouts of an al-Qaida-linked group in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah and nearby villages this morning, killing at least 32 people and wounding 48 others.
An initial wave of strikes late last night targeted a compound in Fazat Shnetir, about 12 miles south of Fallujah, where militants loyal to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were gathering to plot attacks on coalition forces, the military said in a statement.
Militants who survived the strikes later sought refuge in nearby villages, but US forces “quickly broke off an offensive to hunt them down, so as to avoid civilian casualties”, the statement continued.
Residents of Fazat Shnetir could later be seen digging mass graves to bury the dead in groups of four.
Early this morning, US warplanes unleashed strikes on a cluster of houses believed to be used by members of Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group inside Fallujah, the military said.
“The terrorists targeted in this strike were believed to be associated with recent bombing attacks and other terrorist activities throughout Iraq,” the military said.
Blood covered the floors of the Fallujah General Hospital as doctors struggled to cope with a flood of casualties, many brought to the hospital in private cars with ambulances overwhelmed. Relatives pounded their chests in grief and denounced the United States.
Dr Ali Awad of the Fallujah General Hospital said at least 32 people were killed and more than 40 were injured, including women and children.
Religious leaders switched on loudspeakers at the Fallujah mosque to call on residents to donate blood while chanting “God is great.”
