US defends deadly Iraq air raid

TV pictures showed craters and wreckage in Falluja

A US air strike on the city of Falluja targeted a safe house used by militants headed by an al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the US military says.

At least 20 Iraqis were killed in the missile strike on Saturday, residents and hospital staff said.

TV pictures from Falluja - where hundreds died in heavy US bombardments in April - showed extensive damage.

The US said it had "significant intelligence" that members of Zarqawi's network were in the targeted house.

It is not clear how many of the victims were militants or if Zarqawi himself - blamed for several bomb attacks in Iraq - was present.

Zarqawi has been blamed by the US occupation forces in Iraq for the beheading of the American contractor, Nick Berg, whose death was filmed and broadcast on the internet.

Hospital sources say women and children were among the victims in Falluja.

The air strike caused "multiple secondary explosions" of ammunition and roadside bomb materials stored there, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said.

Hundreds of residents of Falluja died in April when US forces sealed off the town and tried to wrest control from resistance fighters.

The town has remained relatively calm since, but correspondents say the American military remains frustrated by its failure to rid the town of militants.

In other developments, a Portuguese contractor and at least one Iraqi died in a roadside blast near the southern city of Basra.

And in Basra itself, UK troops forestalled an attempted car-bombing close to their main base, but the driver reportedly fled.

Army engineers carried out a controlled explosion and there were no casualties.

Rubble

Outraged residents of a poor district of Falluja showed reporters rubble and twisted wreckage as evidence of Saturday morning's air raid.

Some accused the Americans of trying to inflict maximum damage by firing two missiles in succession.

"The number of casualties is so high because after the first missile we jumped to rescue the victims," Wissam Ali Hamad told AP news agency.

"The second missile killed those trying to carry out the rescue."

Residents said at least 20 bodies had been taken for burial.

But the circumstances of the attack are unclear, with some residents saying it was a helicopter attack and others saying a plane fired the missiles.

Clashes

Meanwhile, a Portuguese security guard died in an explosion as he travelled by car from the southern city of Basra to the nearby town of Zubayr, Iraqi police said.

At least one Iraqi was also killed, with some reports suggesting an Iraqi policeman and an oil worker died too.

The attacks came as US forces fought insurgents for a fourth straight day in Buhriz and Tahrir near Baquba, some 60km (37 miles) northeast of Baghdad. The clashes have so far left at least six Iraqis and one American soldier dead, the US military said.

Regular attacks on soldiers and Iraqis working with the occupiers have punctuated the run-up to the handover of sovereignty on 30 June.

The Americans are having to deal with attacks on all sides - from attacks on the oil industry in north and south, to political assassinations and car bombings, says the BBC's Barnaby Phillips in Baghdad.