Precision bombs strike Iraqi terror leadership

The US military struck a suspected terror network for a third time in a week in Iraq today, firing precision weapons at an alleged safehouse of the group believed behind coordinated attacks that killed more than 100 people this week.

The airstrike was directed at a hideout in Fallujah of the Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed for a series of bombs and beheadings that have shaken confidence as Iraq moves toward self-rule next week.

A US military statement gave no estimate of damage or casualties in the attack. But the military vowed to attack “wherever and whenever we find elements of the Zarqawi network”.

In Baghdad, the country’s new leadership, due to assume sovereignty in five days, promised stern action against the insurgents, claiming much of the unrest was directed by foreigners.

“Our culture, our customs have been destroyed,” interim Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan said. “The time has come for a showdown.”

Earlier today, explosions and gunfire shook Fallujah for a second day.

US tanks and armoured vehicles manoeuvred on the city’s outskirts firing in all directions, while armed men in an eastern suburb returned fire, witnesses said. Seven people died in two days of exchanges there, hospital officials said.

Though the military claimed it acted on multiple sources of intelligence, local residents have accused the Americans of falsely claiming that Zarqawi had sought refuge there in order to create an excuse to attack the city.

Fallujah has been a flashpoint for trouble in Iraq since April, when US Marines besieged the city after four American security contractors were killed and dragged through the streets before a cheering, frenzied crowd.

A new videotape showing three masked men carrying machine guns appeared on the Arab language television station Al-Arabiya today, promising to defend the city from the Americans.

“Al-Zarqawi and the fighters are a game by the invading CIA to strike Islam and Muslims in the city of mosques, the steadfast Fallujah,” the statement said. “It’s incumbent on us to defend it.”

Two earlier strikes levelled buildings and hit a car park. U.S. officials said that the second airstrike killed 20 followers of the al-Qaida-linked militant.

Iraq’s interim vice president warned that a drastic deterioration in the country’s security could result in the implementation of emergency measures or martial law.

“Announcing emergency laws or martial law depends on the nature of the situation. In normal situations, there is clearly no need for that (step),” Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite and member of the Islamic Dawa Party, said.

“But in cases of excess challenges, emergency laws have their place,” he said, adding that any such laws would fall within a “democratic framework that respects the rights of Iraqis”.

Elsewhere, three mortar shells exploded early today near an oil pipeline damaged last week by sabotage. The latest explosion caused no damage.

In another blast, a roadside bomb exploded in a residential neighbourhood in Baghdad, killing one Iraqi policeman and wounding another, police said.

The militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared a unilateral cease-fire with US forces in the Baghdad district of Sadr City and offered to help Iraqi police ensure safety in the area.

The declaration said the cease-fire was called to show al-Sadr’s interest in preventing “terrorists and saboteurs” from “causing overwhelming chaos or security disorder”.

In early April, al-Sadr launched an uprising throughout the Shiite heartland south of the capital.

American and Iraqi officials insisted the transfer of power would proceed as planned. The coalition has turned over the last 11 government ministries to Iraqi officials.

During the handover ceremony, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the attacks were “only acts of disturbances conducted by cowards” meant “to foil the democratic process”.