BAGHDAD, July 6: Iraqi forces provided the intelligence for a US airstrike on a suspected militant target in Fallujah on Monday, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said.

Hospital sources said at least five people were killed and seven wounded, among them women and children, in the raid, which Mr Allawi said targeted a house used by the network of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

"After consultations between Iraqi government officials and Multinational Forces-Iraq, Iraqi security forces provided clear and compelling intelligence to conduct a precision strike this evening on a known Zarqawi safe house in southeastern Fallujah," Mr Allawi said in a statement.

"The people of Iraq will not tolerate terrorist groups or those who collaborate with any other foreign fighters such as the Zarqawi network to continue their wicked ways," he said.

Angry residents dug into rubble in search of more bodies in the large crater gouged by the missile blast. "They talk about terrorists, but these are just families," one man said.

US planes dropped six bombs to destroy a house used by militants in Fallujah, the military said. It also stressed that it was a joint operation with Iraqi forces. US and Iraqi officials view Zarqawi as an Al Qaeda ally who has masterminded many suicide bombings in Iraq.

It was the fifth US air raid in three weeks on suspected guerilla targets in Fallujah, and the first since the US-led occupiers formally returned sovereign powers to Mr Allawi's government on June 28.

The interim government is trying to build up Iraqi security forces, but remains dependent on a US-led multinational force of about 160,000 troops, most of them American. -Reuters