 A U.S. air strike on the rebel-held city of Falluja in western Iraq killed 11 people and wounded 17 after a wedding party, with women and children among the casualties, Friday, residents and hospital doctors said. The U.S. military said a "precision strike" hit a safe house being used by associates of Jordanian Islamist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in northwest Falluja at 1:15 a.m. Rescuers clawed through rubble with their bare hands after the raid, chanting "There is no God but God" when the body of one man was pulled from the debris.
| And one of his brave, skulking killers has gone to his raisins. |
Residents said the raid had hit the house shortly after a wedding party there, killing the groom and wounding the bride. "Credible intelligence sources confirmed Zarqawi leaders were meeting at the safe-house at the time of the strike," an unusually detailed U.S. military statement said. At the hospital, where blood pooled on the floor, a doctor named Rafah al-Hayat said 11 people had been killed and 17 wounded. One of his colleagues, Khaled Nasser, said nine females aged between 5 and 50 had been among the wounded. Reuters television footage showed four of the wounded women lying bloodied and bandaged in the hospital.
| "Fatima, hurry the hell up, we're on in ten! Where's my rouge?! And someone pass the ketchup, dammit!" |
The U.S. statement said more than a dozen air strikes had killed several Zarqawi leaders in the past month, including Mohammed al-Lubnani and Abu Anas al-Shami, described as Zarqawi's number two and spiritual adviser. The raids have coincided with efforts by Iraq's interim government and Falluja representatives to negotiate the return of Iraqi security forces to the city ahead of nationwide elections due to take place in January.
| "See folks, Mr. Allawi is known as the 'good cop' in this-here game, and ..." |
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