U.S. Targets Militant in Fallouja

U.S. jets and artillery struck targets Friday in the insurgent bastion of Fallouja, and witnesses said American troops detained that city’s top negotiator in peace talks with Iraqi officials that broke down this week.

There were no reports of casualties from the evening raids, but Dr. Rafia Hiyad of Fallouja General Hospital said three people had been killed and seven injured during attacks the previous night.

U.S. officials indicated that the bombing was not a prelude to a major offensive into the city, from which Marines pulled out in April.

The attacks began Thursday after peace talks between the Iraqi officials and city leaders broke down over the government’s demand that they hand over Abu Musab Zarqawi, believed responsible for suicide bombings and beheading foreign hostages.

The military said the Fallouja raids hit “command and control sites” used by some of Zarqawi’s senior aides to store weapons and plan attacks, adding that airstrikes since Thursday had destroyed many other Zarqawi targets.

Fallouja residents have scoffed at such statements in the past, saying they have no knowledge of Zarqawi or his group and accusing the U.S. of bombing civilian homes.

Khaled Jumeili, an Islamic cleric who served as the city’s top negotiator in the talks, was arrested as he left a mosque after Friday prayers in a village about 10 miles south of the city, witnesses said. There was no confirmation from U.S. authorities.

As the strikes in Fallouja continued, U.S. officials said 10 people were killed and 14 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad police station.

Four of the victims were members of a family passing by in a car.

American and Iraqi officials fear a repeat of the surge in attacks that ushered in Ramadan last year.

Iraqi Sunni Muslims and many Shiites began Ramadan on Friday; other Iraqi Shiites start fasting today.