US forces bomb Falluja, seize Zarqawi aide
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-23 15:13

U.S. planes bombed targets in Iraq's rebel-held city of Falluja, killing two people, and the U.S. military said it had captured a lieutenant of its deadliest Islamist enemy in Iraq in a raid early on Saturday.

Hospital staff said three people were also wounded in what residents said was an air strike on the southern edge of Falluja at around midnight.

Residents said U.S. forces detained at least 17 people in outlying areas of the city west of Baghdad in raids before dawn.

A U.S. military statement said a lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been captured with five other suspects in a raid at 1:30 a.m. on what it called a safe haven of the Jordanian militant's network in southern Falluja.

"The individual targeted and captured today was recently assessed to be a relatively minor member of the Zarqawi network, according to intelligence sources," the statement said.

"However, due to a surge in the number of Zarqawi associates who have been captured or killed by (U.S.) strikes and other operations, the member had moved up to take a critical position as a Zarqawi senior leader," it said.

The statement did not name the man or give his nationality.

The U.S. military says the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Falluja is a shrinking sanctuary for Zarqawi's group, blamed for some of Iraq's bloodiest suicide bombings and hostage beheadings.

"Zarqawi followers are starting to move to outlying areas of Falluja in a continuing attempt to hide amidst the civilian population of Falluja due to precision strikes against Zarqawi hideouts and fighting positions," a separate statement said.

Residents of Falluja, about 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, deny knowledge of Zarqawi's network and say frequent U.S. air strikes inflict a heavy toll on civilians.

In an apparent response to such criticism, the U.S. military said Zarqawi's men endangered civilians by hiding among them.

"Those who associate with terrorists and kidnappers, including family members who support such efforts, are accountable," the U.S. statement said.

AID WORKER PLEADS FOR LIFE

Zarqawi's Tawhid wal Jihad (One God and Holy War) has declared loyalty to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and has claimed responsibility for beheading several foreign hostages, including two Americans and a Briton kidnapped last month.

It has not said it is holding Margaret Hassan, who was abducted on Tuesday on her way to work at the aid agency Care International, whose operations she headed in Baghdad.

Hassan, who holds Iraqi, British and Irish citizenship, made a tearful plea for her life in a video broadcast on Friday.

"Please help me, please help me," she said on the clip shown on Arabic Al Jazeera television. "These might be my last hours."

"Maybe ... I will die like Mr Bigley," she said, referring to British hostage Kenneth Bigley who was killed this month.

She urged Britons to tell Prime Minister Tony Blair to withdraw British troops from Iraq and not move them to Baghdad.

The video surfaced the day after Britain announced it would move 850 troops from southern Iraq to a region near Baghdad, to cover for U.S. forces likely to be sent to attack Falluja.

The U.S. military is widely believed to be preparing for an assault on Falluja, in line with a pledge by the U.S.-backed interim government to retake all rebel-held cities to enable all Iraqis to vote in nationwide elections scheduled for January.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called Friday's video "distressing" and expressed sympathy for her family.

U.S. marines battled insurgents on the outskirts of Falluja for six hours on Friday, the military said. Several insurgents were killed. There were no American casualties, it said.

U.S. and Iraqi forces raided several mosques on Friday in a crackdown on rebels during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

They detained a leading member of the Muslim Clerics Association in what the influential Sunni group described as a campaign against opponents of the U.S. presence in Iraq.  

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