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18 July 2004

U.S. Air Strikes Hit Terrorist Position in Fallujah, Iraq

Site is linked to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- U.S. jets have attacked a site in Fallujah, Iraq, in which about 25 people with ties to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were present just before the strike, according to the Multinational National Force in Baghdad.

A July 18 statement by Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, the force's deputy director for operations, said the coalition was authorized by the Iraqi government to conduct the strike earlier that day against the terrorist fighting position in southern Fallujah, a hotbed of anti-government resistance. Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian native, is accused of a series of car bombings, kidnappings, sabotage, and other attacks aimed at destabilizing Iraq.

The strike destroyed "defensive fighting positions and trench lines near the remains of a house and a foreign fighter checkpoint," Lessel said.

He added that the "precision operation" was conducted based on "multiple sources" of Iraqi and coalition intelligence. News reports indicated that a house was demolished and some 14 people were killed in the attack.

In an earlier statement issued July 17, the multinational force said U.S. and Iraqi soldiers detained six people wanted for anti-Iraqi activities, and foiled two roadside bomb attacks the day before in northern Iraq.

Lessel said the multinational force in Iraq continues to support the Iraqi government and its security forces in "their efforts to defeat foreign fighter terrorists and criminal elements within" the country.

The multinational force says in its mission statement that its purpose is to organize, train, equip, mentor, and certify "credible and capable Iraqi security forces in order to transition responsibility for security from coalition forces to Iraqi forces."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)