14 killed in raid aimed at foreign militants

A UNITED STATES air strike targeting a purported fighting position used by foreign militants in Fallujah demolished a house and killed 14 people, hospital and local officials said yesterday.

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gave the go-ahead for the attack, according to his office and the US military. It was the sixth strike on the city since June 19.

In previous strikes, the United States said it was targeting safe houses used by the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant blamed for masterminding car bombings and other attacks in Iraq.

Yesterday's attack targeted foreign militants' "fighting positions and trench lines near the remains of a house", according to a statement by US Brigadier General Erv Lessel. About 25 fighters were there just before the attack, he said, citing Iraqi and coalition intelligence sources. Locals said the attack destroyed a house filled with civilians.

Allawi has promised strong co-operation with the Americans in rooting out terrorism and said after a July 5 air strike in Fallujah that his government had provided the intelligence for the strike. Allawi consulted with US forces on Saturday about yesterday's strike, his office said.

Explosions from the attack at about 2am rocked the city. Scores of people ran to the scene and dug through the wreckage looking for survivors.

A witness, who declined to give his name, said the house belonged to a "very poor family". Angry crowds gathered at the house, chanting "God is great". Lt Saad Khalaf of the Fallujah Brigade, a defence force that guards the city, said: "We heard the sound of jetfighters and then we heard four explosions in the house occupied by civilian residents."

Body parts were scattered around the scene. Some were stacked and covered by a gray blanket.

The attack killed 14 people and injured three, according to a Health Ministry official.

US Marines besieged Fallujah, a hotbed of resistance against US forces, for several weeks last spring and then handed over security to a new "Fallujah Brigade" made up of local residents and commanded by officers from Saddam's army. Many of those who fought the Marines joined the brigade.

Over the past 15 months, militants have used car bombs, sabotage, kidnappings and other attacks to try to destabilise the country.

In response to demands made by militants holding a Filipino truck driver, Philippine leaders said yesterday they would finish withdrawing troops from Iraq this week.

The pull-out, engineered to save the life of Angelo dela Cruz, was scheduled to end as early as yesterday, when the 22 remaining members of the humanitarian contingent were to make an "exit call" on the new Polish commander at their base south of Baghdad, said Philippine Foreign Minister Delia Albert.

The United States and Australia have sharply criticised the withdrawal, arguing that caving in to terrorists will only encourage more kidnappings and endanger other members of the US-led coalition. Insurgents have taken dozens of hostages in hopes of accomplishing their goals.

Poland's military presence in Iraq is also to be substantially reduced from early 2005, Prime Minister Marek Belka said during a visit to Iraq yesterday.

Confronted with growing public opposition to Poland's 2,500 troops in Iraq, the government has repeatedly said it expected to be able to scale down its military presence in Iraq after elections there scheduled for early next year.

In their continuing effort to quash the insurgency, US forces said they had detained a senior commander of Saddam's elite Republican Guard, who was suspected of planning and financing attacks against Iraqis, Iraqi security forces and coalition troops. Iraqi national guardsmen and coalition forces captured Sufyan Maher Hassan in a raid in Tikrit on Friday. He was being held at a local multinational force detention facility.

Hassan was the Republican Guard commander responsible for units defending Baghdad during the war. A relative of former leader Saddam Hussein, Hassan was blamed for the quick fall of Baghdad.

A wave of attacks killed several people over the weekend as insurgents stepped up attacks on local officials and police whom they view as collaborators with the coalition forces.