FALLUJAH, July 5: A US warplane dropped six massive bombs on a house in Fallujah late on Monday, killing 12 people and wounded five others, the military and local residents said.

The Fallujah general hospital reported 12 dead and five wounded in the blistering air strike. "We have 12 dead, three of them mutilated, and five wounded," said a doctor who refused to give his name.

The raid hit the south-eastern Shuhada neighbourhood in Fallujah, where previous air strikes targeted suspected safe houses of Al Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

"Multinational forces conducted a coordinated air strike against a Mujahideen safe house at 7:15 pm (1515 GMT) today in Fallujah," a military spokesman said, confirming it was the fifth such raid on the Sunni Muslim bastion in two weeks.

"Four 500-pound bombs and two 1,000-pound bombs were dropped." The military statement made no explicit reference to Zarqawi, but referred to Mujahideen whom the alleged terror mastermind is thought to surround himself with. -AFP