BAGHDAD, Sept. 13 -- U.S. warplanes on Monday bombed a suspected hideout in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah where associates of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi were meeting, the U.S. military said. The Iraqi Health Ministry reported that 20 people were killed and 39 wounded.
The U.S. military said its forces conducted a precision strike just after 6 a.m.
A hospital official said seven people were killed when an ambulance rushing wounded people from the targeted area was hit by a shell.
Zarqawi, who U.S. authorities say is allied with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, is alleged to have organized car bombings, kidnappings and other attacks against Americans and Iraqis. Many military analysts believe he is holed up in Fallujah, which Sunni insurgents and foreign fighters have controlled since U.S. Marines withdrew at the end of April after a three-week siege.
"Intelligence sources reported the presence of several key Zarqawi operatives who have been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against Iraqi civilians, Iraq Security Forces and multi-national forces," the U.S. military said in a statement Monday. "Based on analysis of these reports, Iraqi Security Forces and multi-national forces effectively and accurately targeted these terrorists while protecting the lives of innocent civilians."
Monday's strike was the latest against targets in Fallujah that U.S. officials say were used by Zarqawi's network.
Witnesses said U.S. warplanes repeatedly swooped low over Fallujah and bombed the residential Shurta neighborhood. Artillery units deployed on the outskirts of the city also opened fire for several hours.
Adel Khamis, a physician at the Fallujah General Hospital, said the dead included women and children, the Associated Press reported. The driver, a paramedic and five patients inside the ambulance that was hit by the shell were also killed, Hamid Salaman, a hospital official, told the AP.
The latest casualties came one day after at least 80 civilians and insurgents were killed around the country in some of the most intense violence in months.
The Iraqi Health Ministry reported that 17 people were wounded Monday in fighting between insurgents and U.S. forces in the capital.
U.S. forces killed six Iraqis when they opened fire on a village near the town of Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, the Reuters news agency reported. Abdel Zahra Nasrawi, director of the Musayib Hospital, said seven Iraqis were injured by U.S. artillery shelling in Jarf al-Sakhar, near Hilla.
[The U.S. military said Tuesday that guerrillas attacked a U.S. patrol in Baghdad with a roadside bomb and gunfire, killing two soldiers and wounding three, according to Reuters.]
To the north on Monday, U.S. troops continued to block access to the city of Tall Afar as the provincial governor prepared to install a new mayor and police force there.
U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, accompanied by an Iraqi National Guard battalion, moved into Tall Afar early Sunday morning after launching an offensive last week. U.S. commanders said the goal was to expel 200 to 300 insurgents who had taken control of the local government.
