FALLUJAH, July 23: US warplanes hit a suspected hideout of alleged Al Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al Zarqawi in Fallujah on Friday as the country's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi vowed there would be no dialogue with terrorists.
The dawn strike, which came five days after a similar operation killed 11 people, targeted around fifteen men in the courtyard of a house in the southwestern part of the city, a US military statement said.
And in a town north of Baghdad, nine people were killed and 10 injured on Thursday night when a van they were travelling in hit a US tank. A military spokesman said the van was carrying 19 people and that the accident happened near Taji, 27kms north of the capital.
About the Fallujah operation, the US military said it had conducted seven similar operations over the past month against Jordanian-born Zarqawi's network and that the latest operation was coordinated with the interim government. Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in Cairo on Thursday there would be no dialogue with foreign fighters. -AFP
