U.S. warplanes bombed a house in an al-Qaida stronghold near the Syrian border Wednesday and a key terrorist operative was believed killed, the U.S. military said. It was the second day of airstrikes aimed at what American commanders say is an increasing al-Qaida presence in the area near the border city of Qaim. A U.S. military statement said Wednesday's attack was thought to have killed Abu Ali, a senior al-Qaida agent in charge of helping foreign fighters enter the country from Syria. He was believed in a house targeted in a Euphrates River village, the statement said.Ali was "linked to other al-Qaida terrorists and foreign fighter facilitators in the Hit, Qaim, Karabilah and Husaybah areas," it said. He also was known to have al-Qaida connections in Syria and Saudi Arabia, where most of his foreign fighters were recruited, the military said. U.S. pilots reported several secondary explosions after their bombs destroyed the house, suggesting the structure held a large cache of armaments, the statement said. The target was just a few miles from the town of Husaybah, where residents said Wednesday that masked insurgent gunmen had taken control, setting up roadblocks and questioning people on the streets. They said snipers were atop buildings and gunmen roamed the streets.