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 US forces dig in on the outskirts of Fallujah. (ABC) |
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40 dead as US bombs Fallujah mosque
US Marines pressing an offensive in Fallujah, west of Iraq capital Baghdad, have bombed a mosque in the centre of the town and killed up to 40 insurgents inside, a Marine officer said.
The attack came from a jet aircraft at a high angle to minimise the impact, the officer said.
"We wanted to kill the people inside," said Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne.
The officer said a Cobra helicopter gunship fired a Hell Fire missile at the mosque and then an aircraft dropped a laser-guided precision bomb.
Fallujah residents confirmed that the Abdulaziz al-Samarai mosque was hit along with the building of the Islamic Scholars' Association.
The officer said the marines carried out the raid as precisely as they could because there are people living nearby.
US forces say the insurgents, who are fiercely opposed to the US-led occupation of Iraq, were using mosques to fire on marines and to hide weapons.
Earlier on Wednesday, all the city mosques called for a "jihad" (holy war) against occupation forces amid intense bombardments and aircraft overflights, an AFP correspondent said.
The insurgents claimed in a communique to have shot down three US helicopters, destroyed two jeeps and two armoured vehicles.
They also claimed they were still in control of the city and had put US forces to flight.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Byrne said the Marines advancing from the south reached the centre of Fallujah amid fierce fighting on the third day of "Operation Vigilant Resolve" to flush out insurgents who killed four American contractors here last week.
"The Marines are now at the centre of the city," he told AFP.
It was not immediately clear if Marines advancing from the north had also reached the centre of Fallujah.
Meanwhile, the US army says one of its helicopters has been hit by small arms fire north of Baghdad, but landed safely with no reports of casualties.
A US spokesman says the helicopter landed near Baquba, 65 kilometres north of Baghdad.
In the town of Balad, one US soldier was killed and one wounded during a skirmish with insurgents.
Iraqi police in the town of Kerbala say Polish troops have killed the head of militant Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's office in the city.
And near Kirkuk, eight Iraqis have been killed when clashes broke out between US troops and demonstrators voicing support for Sunni resistance to the US-led occupation.
-- AFP/Reuters