US forces launched multiple air strikes against a suspected hideout of the Al-Qaeda terror network in the restive Al-Anbar province of Iraq near the Syrian border Friday, the US military said. Around 50 militants associated with Al-Qaeda frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, were in a safe house in the border town of Husaybah at the time of the air strikes, it said. "The terrorists were using their position to attack the residents of the city with small-arms fire," it added.
No casualty figures were immediately given. US marines based in Husaybah have seen an escalation in fighting between Zarqawi gunmen and local tribes in the past five months, the military said. Zarqawi's men have been wrestling with local tribes for control over the town, which is close to the Syrian border, where many foreign fighters are believed to be crossing into Iraq to join the insurgency, it added. |