US warplanes struck targets overnight in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, the US military said.
In two air dtrikes carried out just after midnight, US warplanes pounded sites in the northeast and southeast of the town, located 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, a military statement said.
"US Air Force aircraft...struck a preplanned target with precision weapons, striking known anti-Iraqi barricaded fighting positions" in both the northeast and southeast, the military stated.
On the southeastern outskirts of Fallujah, U.S. troops and Iraqi fighters also clashed overnight. Two Iraqis were killed while no U.S. casualties were reported, said Lt. Nathan Braden, of 1st Marine Division. Hospital officials in the city reported three civilians were wounded in the overnight shelling.
Elsewhere, an Iraqi National Guard patrol was hit Thursday by a car bomb in Iskandariyah, some 50 kms south of the Iraqi capital, killing at least three people, Iraqi officials said.
Meanwhile, a new video tape issued on Thursday of three captive Jordanian truckers pleading for their government to warn its nationals against working with US-led forces.
“We will not have mercy on anyone. We will strike with an iron fist whoever deals with the occupation,” one of three masked gunmen said on the video, released to Reuters. (albawaba.com)
