BAGHDAD - US forces bombarded parts of southeast Baghdad after dark on Saturday. “American aircraft are bombarding terrorist targets that have been chosen by US and Iraqi forces, as part of our Baghdad security plan,” said Brigadier General Qasim Al Mussawi, spokesman for the operation.But a resident of the area told AFP that insurgents had fired mortar shells and that US troops appeared to have responded with artillery. US spokesmen were not immediately willing to comment, but AFP reporters in downtown Baghdad heard the rumble of more than three dozen powerful blasts in rapid succession at around 10:00pm (1900 GMT).
A senior Iraqi interior ministry official told AFP the strikes were aimed at insurgent strongholds in BoÂ’aitha, a sparsely populated neighbourhood on the west bank of the Tigris, south of the city centre.