U.S. says airstrikes hit terrorist hideout

BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. warplanes unleashed devastating airstrikes on a suspected hideout where operatives from an al-Qaida-linked group were meeting Monday, and hospital officials said 20 people died.

One strike hit an ambulance as it sped away with wounded, a hospital official said.

The U.S. military said jets carried out the strike on a site in Fallujah, where several members of a group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were meeting. It was at least the fifth airstrike in the past week on the city, indicating the high priority U.S. officials place on destroying al-Zarqawi’s group.

Warplanes hit the city west of Baghdad after “intelligence sources reported the presence of several al-Zarqawi operatives who have been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against Iraqi civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and multinational forces,” the military said in a statement.

“Intelligence reports indicated that only Zarqawi operatives and associates were at the meeting location at the time of the strike,” the statement said. “Based on analysis of these reports, Iraqi Security Forces and multinational forces effectively and accurately targeted these terrorists while protecting the lives of innocent civilians.”

Iraqi witnesses said a market, homes and an ambulance were hit.

“We did not hit a marketplace,” said Maj. Jay Antonelli in a statement, but there was no immediate comment on the accusation that an ambulance was hit.

U.S. forces pulled out of Fallujah in April after ending a three-week siege that left hundreds dead. The U.S. Marines have not patrolled inside Fallujah since then and Sunni Muslim insurgents have strengthened their hold on the city.

Also Monday, Italy’s foreign minister went to Kuwait in hopes of winning the release of two Italian women kidnapped in Iraq. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini appealed for a “civilized dialogue” as he stood inside Kuwait’s Grand Mosque.

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