Dozens die in day of Iraq clashes

[Talon]

Dozens die in day of Iraq clashes

Nearly 40 people have died in widespread fighting in Iraq between militants and American-led forces.

Baghdad saw some of the heaviest clashes for weeks as mortars fell in the Green Zone government quarter, and US helicopters fired missiles.

In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, 10 people died in clashes between Iraqi fighters and US soldiers.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said US and Iraqi forces would eventually end the insurgency.

"This is a difficult time as this insurgency still rages and as we work to bring it under control. But it will be brought under control," he told NBC television.

At least 24 Iraqis were killed in Baghdad in the hours of gun battles that followed the attacks on the Green Zone.

American helicopters fired missiles into at least two parts of the city.

The BBC's Caroline Hawley, in Baghdad, says that more than two months into the handover of power, neither Iraqi nor US forces seem able to exert control in the capital.

Children killed

Rockets and mortar bombs began hitting the Green Zone early on Sunday morning.

The huge government compound, which also houses the US embassy, was bombarded by insurgents who oppose the presence in the country of US troops.

One blast hit the French embassy's car park, but caused no injuries. Another fell just short of the main international hotels.

Gun battles raged in Haifa Street, a stronghold of Saddam loyalists. Fighting broke out at around 0500 (0100 GMT) in the area on the western side of the Tigris River.

A US armoured vehicle caught fire and its four crew members were evacuated with minor injuries.

A US helicopter gunship opened fire with missiles and machine-guns at a crowd swarming around the vehicle who were cheering and throwing stones.

Two children and a journalist for an Arabic TV news channel, al-Arabiyya, were among those killed.

In other violence:

An apparent suicide attack on Abu Ghraib jail, outside Baghdad, was foiled when guards shot at a vehicle which then exploded, killing the driver

A car bomb in western Baghdad killed two police officers and a young boy

Three Iraqi national guardsmen were killed around the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad

'Drive on'

Meanwhile, Mr Powell said that the US was committed to giving the country stability.

And he added that he was confident that the elections for next year could still be held on time - though he gave no further details on the plan to end the violence.

"This is not the time to get weak in the knees or faint about it, but to drive on and finish the work that we started," he told NBC television.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3648786.stm

[Talon]

US bombards Falluja 'militants'

At least 15 people have been killed in a joint US-Iraqi attack on militant positions in the restive Iraqi city of Falluja, according to hospital sources.

US artillery bombarded several districts, before circling warplanes opened fire, witnesses said.

The US military said it had "accurately targeted" militants from a group linked to al-Qaeda, but there were reports that civilians were among the dead.

It comes a day after 70 people were killed in fighting across Iraq.

"Intelligence sources reported the presence of several key [Abu Musab] Zarqawi operatives who have been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against Iraqi civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and multinational forces," a US military statement said.

It said, "Iraqi Security Forces and multinational forces effectively and accurately targeted these terrorists while protecting the lives of innocent civilians", without saying where the strike took place.

The US accuses Zarqawi, head of the Tawhid and Jihad movement, of leading al-Qaeda operations in Iraq and for having carried out a spate of car bombings and other attacks.

An AFP reporter said he had seen 15 bodies laid out for burial.

Falah Abdullah, an undertaker at the cemetery in Falluja, told AFP an ambulance driver and two nurses were among those killed when an ambulance was hit.

In other developments:

Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, says he expects former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to go on trial before the end of the year

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is in the Middle East in an effort to secure the release of two Italian women aid workers kidnapped in Iraq

'House flattened'

AFP said at least one house had been flattened by a US missile and two others were partially destroyed.

Ambulances and cars were reported to have been ferrying casualties to hospital.

The agency said four people were killed when a missile struck a civilian car driving on a motorway west of Falluja.

Witnesses described black columns of smoke above Falluja and said hundreds of families had begun to leave town, Reuters reported.

US forces using loudspeakers called on residents to co-operate and "expel terrorists from the centre of the city", Reuters said.

Troops have set up checkpoints at the northern, western and southern entrances to Falluja, the agency reported.

The flashpoint Sunni city, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad, has long been a centre of some of the fiercest resistance to coalition forces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3650762.stm

[Talon]

Iraq PM says poll will go ahead

Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, has said elections must go ahead as planned in January even if violence stops some Iraqis from voting.

In an interview with UK newspapers, he conceded that some of the worst-hit towns may be unable to hold a vote.

But he said it was important that the political process should continue.

The Iraqi prime minister also said he expected the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to begin before the end of 2004.

A surge in fighting on Sunday between US-led forces and Iraqi militants left about 70 people dead across the country, including 37 in Baghdad.

The heaviest clashes for weeks erupted in the Iraqi capital after mortars fell in the Green Zone government quarter.

Confident

The BBC's Caroline Hawley, in Baghdad, says that more than two months into the handover of power, neither Iraqi nor US forces seem able to exert control in Baghdad.

Despite the continuing violence, Mr Allawi said the aim was for the whole country to be involved in the direct elections set for next January.

"If, for any reason, 300,000 people cannot vote because terrorists decide so - and this is imposing a very big if - then frankly 300,000 people is not going to alter 25 million people voting," Mr Allawi told The Times and Guardian newspapers.

"There are problems, yes. But to the point that we can't conduct an election? I don't think so."

In an interview on Sunday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was confident that the elections for next year could still be held on time - though he gave no further details on the plan to end the violence.

"This is not the time to get weak in the knees or faint about it, but to drive on and finish the work that we started," he told NBC television.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3650624.stm

[Talon]

Blast rocks US mission in Basra

An explosion near the US mission in the southern Iraqi city of Basra has killed at least one Iraqi man, reports say.

Witnesses said a car was destroyed by the blast - an apparent roadside bomb. They said the dead man was the driver, who worked for a security company.

It was not clear whether the US mission had been the target. A blast barrier is said to have shielded the building.

Iraqi insurgents opposed to the US-led presence in Iraq have often targeted Basra, particularly its oil terminal.

The explosion occurred just after 1600 (1200 GMT) outside the compound, a Saddam-era palace, containing the consulate.

"It's believed to be a car bomb," a British military spokeswoman said according to the Associated Press news agency.

The compound is also home to KBR, a subsidiary of the US oil services giant Halliburton.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3647576.stm

Another day, more violence

[Talon]

Iraq suffers day of grim violence

Dozens of people have been killed in Iraq as the country experienced another day of extreme violence.

A car bomb exploded on Tuesday morning close to an Iraqi police station in central Baghdad, killing 47 people, health ministry officials say.

Gunmen opened fire on a police minibus killing 12 policemen and a civilian in Baquba, north of Baghdad.

A statement said to be from alleged al-Qaeda militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group said it carried out the attacks.

Meanwhile medical officials said 10 Iraqis were killed as US forces and insurgents clashed in the town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

And the US military said three US troops were killed in separate attacks, two in Baghdad and one in the northern city of Mosul, where five were also reported injured.

A series of explosions was heard in Baghdad's Green Zone, housing the US embassy and the interim government, on Tuesday evening.

In other developments across Iraq:

An explosion hits an oil pipeline near Beiji, north of Baghdad. Iraq's interim Electricity Minister says power supplies across Iraq are affected, but will be restored in hours.

Insurgents sabotage another pipeline 60km west of Kirkuk, halting exports to Turkey.

US and Iraqi forces allow civilians to return to the mainly ethnic Turkmen northern city of Talafar, after Turkey threatens to stop co-operating with the US over Iraq unless an assault there ends.

Militants release a Turkish translator taken hostage in late July, apparently in response to Turkey's actions over Talafar.

Two Turkish truck drivers are taken hostage near the town of Tikrit.

Al-Jazeera television broadcasts a videotape showing masked men holding a Jordanian truck driver hostage in Iraq.

Tuesday's attack in Baghdad was the deadliest such attack in Iraq since July, when 68 people were killed by a car bomb outside a police station in Baquba.

Most of the dead in Haifa Street are thought to be civilians. At least 114 people were wounded.

An Islamist website carried a statement purportedly from the Tawhid and Jihad movement, headed by a suspected al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claiming responsibility for the attack.

"A lion from the 'martyrdom-seeking brigade' succeeded in striking a centre for volunteers for the renegade police force," it said.

The statement also said the group carried out the shooting in Baquba.

Crowds of people seeking work with the Iraqi police force were waiting for the police station to open when the car blew up.

The BBC's Mike Donkin in Baghdad says the blast echoed across the city and punched a two-metre (6.5 ft) wide crater in the road.

He says flying shrapnel smashed into a row of shops, fruit stalls and a busy cafe.

Training difficulties

Angry crowds gathered near the site of the explosion, denouncing the US military and the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi for failing to protect police recruiting centres.

Iraqi police forces have regularly been targeted by insurgents, who see them as collaborators with US forces.

An Interior Ministry spokesman told the Associated Press news agency that the authorities were finding it difficult to find safe places to train new recruits.

But there was no shortage of Iraqis ready to risk their lives to defend the country, Sabah Kadhim said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3657232.stm

[Talon]

Israelis kill seven Palestinians

Israeli forces have killed an 11-year-old Palestinian girl and six militants in the West Bank town of Nablus.

The fighting began after troops from elite naval commando unit Shayetet 13 surrounded a building housing militants in Nablus's Old City before dawn.

About 20 jeeps and tanks took part in the operation, with aerial cover from an Israeli helicopter.

The dead men were from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

It is not clear whether the young girl, Mariam al-Nahleh, was killed in the same house.

Nablus resident Basma Masri said her son was among the armed men, and when she had spoke to him, he told her that he and his comrades had run out of ammunition, the Associated Press news agency reported.

After news of the killings spread through the city, clashes broke out between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian stone-throwers.

Ten Palestinians were reported wounded during the demonstrations, including a 14-year-old boy, who medics said was in a serious condition in hospital.

On Monday, Mahmoud Khalifa, a senior member of the al-Aqsa Brigades, was killed in Jenin along with two other militants.

Leaders of the group have already threatened to take revenge with an attack on Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv.

They dispatched a suicide bomber on Tuesday who blew himself up after riding by bicycle to an Israeli checkpoint near Qalqilya. Two soldiers were wounded.

Overnight, at least seven Palestinian houses were destroyed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip during a series of incursions into the territory.

Armoured Israeli vehicles thrust into the village of Mughraq near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and demolished several homes before withdrawing at dawn.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3657652.stm

[Talon]

Decapitated bodies found in Iraq

Three unidentified beheaded bodies have been found on a road north of Baghdad, US and Iraqi sources say.

They were discovered by members of the Iraqi National Guard, dumped in nylon bags near Dijiel, about 40km (25 miles) from the capital.

There are conflicting reports as to whether the male corpses are those of Arabs or foreigners.

Iraqi police were quoted as saying the bodies bore tattoos with Arabic or Turkish writing.

Dead 'for days'

The US military said the bodies appeared to be those of Arabs, but Reuters news agency quoted Iraqi security forces as saying the dead men were believed to be foreigners.

Police said two of the bodies had tattoos written in the Roman alphabet - one reading "HECER" and the other the letter "H", while the third body had tattoos written in Arabic but the words were foreign, Reuters reported.

"The bodies were unrecognisable and it seems they were killed several days ago," police Lieutenant Colonel Hameed Ahmed was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

One report said the heads were found strapped to the backs of the bodies.

At least 11 non-Arabs and four Arab nationals are being held hostage in Iraq, according to Reuters.

On Wednesday, a Turkish truck driver seized in July was reported released.

Associated Press Television News said it had obtained a videotape in which Aytullah Gezman said he had been freed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3658500.stm

[Talon]

Iraq elections 'still on track'

The head of the British Army has said national elections in Iraq are still on track for January, despite violence which killed dozens on Tuesday.

While on a visit to the country, General Sir Mike Jackson told the BBC the poll would go ahead if the "required effort" was put in.

Iraqi police were targeted in two attacks which killed 59 people.

Sir Mike also dismissed reports UK soldiers were increasingly afraid to open fire for fear of prosecution.

The Army's Chief of General Staff denied he was on a mission to placate the UK troops and said the feedback from his visit suggested the interim Iraqi government was making progress.

Local elections were being held and the national elections were expected to follow as planned.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "People are pretty confident that they can take place if everybody puts in the required effort and arrangements into it."

On Tuesday, a car bomb close to an Iraqi police station in central Baghdad killed 47 people and gunmen opened fire on a police minibus in Baquba, killing 12.

But Sir Mike said the bloodshed was not escalating and these atrocities did not tell the full stories.

"I've been briefed by many people here that despite this appalling incident, the level of violence overall is pretty much unchanged."

'No fear'

He denied there was a change of mood among British soldiers about opening fire, amid reports some are fearful of getting it wrong and facing civilian charges.

Last week a British soldier appeared at the Old Bailey charged with murdering an Iraqi.

The attorney general brought the case after the soldier's officer dismissed any charges against him.

One senior military figure is quoted as saying: "We are in grave danger of creating a culture in the Army where soldiers are too scared to open fire because they fear if they make a mistake they will face prosecution."

But Sir Mike said: "I can assure you that British soldiers have been using their weapons within the rules of engagement without any such fear whatsoever.

"I've talked to a lot soldiers and I'm quite satisfied on that point."

The Ministry of Defence says 10 cases of alleged abuse are being examined by the Army's legal service and 40 more cases could reportedly follow.

Sir Mike said: "The war itself in the spring of last year and the immediate aftermath was a violent situation and it may well be that on occasion a misjudgement - I hope not a deliberate form of abuse because that would be appalling- will occur and they will be investigated.

"The Army has very high standards and they must be maintained."

In other developments:

Three unidentified beheaded bodies were found dumped in bags on a road near Dijiel, about 40km (25 miles) north of Baghdad, US and Iraqi sources say

A Jordanian transport firm halted its operations in Iraq after a group called Lions of the Monotheism Brigade threatened to kill employee Khalifa Breizat, whom it said it was holding captive

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, on a visit to Qatar, called on militants in Iraq to free Italian aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, abducted on 7 September. Mr Frattini ruled out bowing to kidnappers' threats

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3657908.stm

[Talon]

Suicide bomb blasts rock Baghdad

Two suicide car bombs have hit central Baghdad within an hour of each other, killing at least five people.

The dead are reported to be from a police convoy targeted in the Rashid Street shopping district, after an earlier blast near a checkpoint.

The BBC's Mike Donkin in Baghdad says the blasts came amid a massive security crackdown across the capital city.

Earlier, dozens of people were killed in US air strikes on the restive city of Falluja, west of Baghdad.

Streets blocked

Witnesses near Rashid Street said an attacker drove up to a convoy of six police vehicles before blowing up his car at about 1230 local time (0830 GMT).

US troops and Iraqi police tried to clear the area, as ambulances rushed to treat the wounded.

"The suicide bomber was driving a Chevrolet Malibu. He smashed his car against the police vehicle," interior ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul Rahman was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"Five of my police colleagues were killed and all eight of our patrol cars were damaged," First Lieutenant Jafaar Hussein, his shirt drenched in blood, told AFP.

Correspondents say the Rashid Street area of Baghdad is usually teeming with shoppers, but is traditionally less crowded on a Friday, the first day of the weekend in Iraq.

The attack on the convoy was near Haifa Street, where nearly 50 people died in a bombing on Tuesday.

It came soon after US and Iraqi forces mounted a major security operation against fighters in Haifa Street, using tanks to block off the area amid continuing gun battles.

Our correspondent says militants have been using Haifa Street to mount rocket and mortar attacks on the nearby international zone.

He adds that another aim of the operation is to stop insurgents from other parts of Iraq moving in to consolidate resistance in the capital itself.

The earlier car-bomb blast came as suspected suicide attackers drove towards a security checkpoint near the Tigris river that flows through the heart of Baghdad.

Reports say the car blew up when it was fired on.

Falluja raids

The Baghdad attacks came hours after the US said it killed up to 60 militants in air strikes aimed at suspected terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in and around Falluja.

The health ministry said 44 people had been killed.

Hospital medics quoted by news agencies said many were civilians, including women and children.

Falluja and surrounding areas have been a hotbed of resistance to US forces and the interim Iraqi government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3665390.stm

[Talon]

Iraqi 'militants' held after raid

US and Iraqi forces have arrested 63 suspected militants during a major security operation in central Baghdad.

Amid gun battles, they sealed off the Haifa Street area in response to mortar attacks on nearby Iraqi ministries and the US and British embassies.

Iraqi police say those held include Syrians, Lebanese and Egyptians.

During the operation, a car packed with explosives rammed a police convoy in the Rashid Street district, killing three policemen and injuring 37 people.

Earlier, American troops foiled another attack when they shot at a car containing at least one suicide bomber, who drove at their checkpoint near the River Tigris.

Resistance

There was also violence in the restive city of Falluja, west of Baghdad, where at least three people were killed in a new US air strike on Friday.

The US military described it as "another successful precision strike" on "foreign terrorists" led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The US had previously said it killed up to 60 militants in air attacks aimed at Mr Zarqawi and his followers in and around Falluja.

The health ministry said 44 people had been killed.

Falluja and surrounding areas have been a hotbed of resistance to US forces and the interim Iraqi government.

The US military announced on Friday that another of its soldiers had been killed during "security and stability operations" in the Falluja area.

Streets blocked

Witnesses near Rashid Street said an attacker drove up to a convoy of six police vehicles before blowing up his car at about 1230 local time (0830 GMT).

A large crater was gouged in the road and US troops and Iraqi police tried to clear the area, as ambulances rushed to treat the wounded.

"The suicide bomber was driving a Chevrolet Malibu. He smashed his car against the police vehicle," interior ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul Rahman was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Correspondents say the Rashid Street area of Baghdad is usually teeming with shoppers, but is traditionally less crowded on a Friday, the first day of the weekend in Iraq.

The earlier car-bomb blast came as suspected suicide attackers drove towards a security checkpoint near the Tigris river that flows through the heart of Baghdad.

Reports say the car blew up when it was fired on.

In the southern city of Basra, one British soldier was injured during clashes with fighters loyal to militant Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.

British troops later raided Mr Sadr's office in the city.

"During their search of the building, a large quantity of weapons and explosives were found," said a British military spokesman.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3667494.stm

[AztecInca]

And on and on it goes........ will it ever end?!

[Talon]

And on and on it goes........ will it ever end?!

no

EDIT:

And as if to prove me right, I turn on the news and see this;

Iraqi car bomb kills 20 in Kirkuk

A suicide car bomb attack on the Iraqi national guard headquarters in the northern city of Kirkuk has killed at least 20 people, officials say.

The victims were queuing to apply for jobs in the force, said a general in the national guard.

Bloodied bodies were strewn across the street, which was littered with twisted metal and shards of glass.

Meanwhile, doctors in Falluja said six civilians had been killed during overnight US air strikes on the city.

Main target

The Kirkuk attack injured between 15 and 20 people, police said.

"I saw a speeding car crossing an open field heading toward the would-be recruits, then there was a huge explosion and a big fire," said Asu Ahmed, a street trader.

"There were many dead and injured people and I helped put them in ambulances."

The attack was the latest to be directed at police targets in Iraq. On Tuesday, 47 people were killed in an attack at a Baghdad police station, and on Friday three policemen died when a roadblock was blown up.

Twelve officers were killed in an ambush in Baquba earlier in the week.

The BBC's Mike Donkin in Baghdad says insurgents have made security personnel their main targets, as the new Iraqi government attempts to build forces capable of maintaining order in Iraq.

Air strikes

In Falluja overnight, the US launched the latest in a week of what it called "clinical strikes" on militant targets.

Scores of people have been killed in the attacks - the US says they are militants, or foreign fighters who have moved in to consolidate Sunni resistance in Falluja.

But local hospitals say there have been many civilians among the dead.

A senior Iraqi oil official survived an assassination attempt on Saturday, but five of his bodyguards were killed, police said.

Mohammed Zibari, of the state-run North Oil Co, was travelling in a convoy in the north-eastern city of Mosul when automatic gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades rained in.

In Baghdad, an explosion was attributed to a roadside bomb. Police said it had killed one person and wounded two others.

In Baquba, north of the capital, there are reports of a mortar shell being fired at a crowd of parents and schoolchildren awaiting examination results in front of a school.

Police and hospital sources said nine people were wounded.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3668098.stm

Edited September 18, 2004 by Talon S.

[Talon]

Car blasts rock western Baghdad

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb in west Baghdad killing 11 people, some of whom were about to apply to join the Iraqi security forces.

Hours later another blast shook the Mansour district of Baghdad.

No deaths are reported, but at least three people were hurt and two US military vehicles were destroyed.

The Iraqi capital has seen almost daily bombings in the past two weeks against US forces and their allies, but most of the victims have been civilians.

Meanwhile, fighting raged in north-east Baghdad after US forces launched a major operation against militants loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

At least 15 people are reported to have died in the clashes in the Sadr City suburb.

In other developments:

A US soldier died in an attack on a patrol in the northern city of Mosul.

A US Army soldier died when a roadside bomb he was investigating in Tikrit detonated.

Three US soldiers were injured when their Blackhawk helicopter made emergency landing late near Nasiriya.

Shops struck

Witnesses in western Baghdad's Jamiyah neighbourhood said it was not immediately clear why the suicide bomber struck in their area, a commercial and residential district.

"I don't even know who they were targeting. They just bombed people eating ice cream" said one casualty who had shrapnel wounds to the face and neck.

However, later reports said a photocopying shop may have been the target, where young men had been preparing their applications before volunteering at a nearby recruitment centre.

At least 13 vehicles were wrecked by the blast and the engine of the explosives-laden car was hurled about 50 meters (150 feet).

Slum battles

The death toll has been steadily rising during the morning in the restive Shia slum of Sadr City.

Witnesses said US forces used attack helicopters and C130 gun ships to rake some areas with fire.

One US helicopter was reportedly hit by gunfire, but managed to return to its base, and a tank was reported hit by a roadside bomb.

Reports say that, at one point, US troops took to the rooftops in pursuit of five armed militiamen, killing two and capturing three.

"We are fighting the terrorists so we can re-establish civil-military operations and get back to the reconstruction projects that the people of Sadr City want," a US army spokesman said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3679042.stm

[Talon]

US missile 'kills Zarqawi aide'

The suspected spiritual leader of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has been killed in a US air strike in Iraq, reports say.

Sheikh Abu Anas al-Shami was killed when a missile hit his car on Friday, according to relatives in Jordan.

The sheikh is believed to have written the group's fatwas or religious rulings and Mr Zarqawi's speeches.

Mr Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, heads the group thought to have killed two US hostages since Monday.

The US military had said it conducted a "successful precision strike" west of Baghdad on Friday, targeting a gathering of about 10 Zarqawi supporters.

Jordanian press reports quote the family saying that Mr Shami's car was hit by a missile as he was driving in an agricultural area in the Abu Ghraib region .

Relatives in the Jordanian capital Amman have been receiving condolences for the death since Tuesday, reports say.

Fundamentalist background

Also known as Omar Yousef Jumah, Mr Shami is reported to have gone to Iraq after the US invasion last year.

Clerics close to the family quoted by Associated Press said they had been surprised when they heard he had joined Tawhid and Jihad.

He had been a leading member of a small Salafist movement in Jordan that advocated the peaceful introduction of strict Islamic law in the kingdom, they said.

That was after studying Islamic theology in Saudi Arabia, they said.

Mr Shami lived in Kuwait until the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and, in the late 1990s, the Jordanian government reportedly closed down an Islamic centre that he had founded in Amman.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3679682.stm

[Talon]

US launches massive Falluja raid

At least eight people have been killed in US strikes on the volatile Iraqi city of Falluja, doctors say.

They said 15 other people were injured, as US planes, tanks and artillery units shelled the city which lies about 40 miles (65km) west of Baghdad.

Several buildings in the city centre were destroyed, witnesses said.

The US military said it targeted a meeting place for fighters loyal to terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed for masterminding many attacks.

"Intelligence sources reported that terrorists were using the site to plan additional attacks against Iraqi citizens and multinational forces," a US military statement said.

The statement added that no civilians were reported in the area at the time.

However, a doctor at Falluja's general hospital told the Associated Press that civilians had been killed.

Dr Dhiya al-Jumaili said at least eight people were killed and 15 wounded, including women and children.

Reuters Television pictures showed rescuers pulling survivors, among them two women and a young child, out of a destroyed building.

In other developments:

Gunmen attack a group of Iraqis travelling to a National Guard recruitment centre in Baghdad, killing seven people

The US military says four marines were killed in two attacks on Friday in Anbar province that includes Falluja and Ramadi, another rebel stronghold

US Deputy Security of State Secretary Richard Armitage insists Iraq's elections set for January will be open to all, apparently contradicting Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who said violence might limit the poll

Hostages

Saturday's raid on Falluja is the latest in a series of attacks on the city as US forces attempt to flush out Zarqawi and his fighters.

The US accuses the Jordanian-born militant, who heads the Tawhid and Jihad movement, of leading al-Qaeda operations in Iraq and for being behind numerous car bombings and kidnappings.

This week his group beheaded two American hostages and has threatened to kill British hostage Kenneth Bigley.

US officials have also offered a $25m bounty for information leading to Zarqawi's capture.

Falluja, in the so-called Sunni triangle, has been a centre of some of the strongest resistance to coalition forces.

US forces have not entered Falluja since pulling back in April after a three-week siege of the city.

Hundreds died and thousands fled as US marines and Iraqi insurgents fought in built up civilian areas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3688812.stm