FALLUJAH.

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) ??” Seventeen Iraqis were killed and six hurted in a US air strike overnight upon suspected Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi safe houses in Fallujah, medical officials and the US military said.

sum of two units buildings were destroyed when a US fighter jet fired pair missiles around 11:45 pm (1945 GMT) at sum of two units buildings in the residential neighbourhood of Jebel in Fallujah, a hotspot of radical Sunni insurgency 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad, police and medical officials said.

"We now have 17 dead populace and six wounded," said Doctor Seifeddin Taha, from the Fallujah general hospital.

"All the panged are families. Among the dead, there could be couple or three children but the bodies are torn to pieces and it's difficult to tell" he told AFP overnight.

The US military confirmed the attack in a statement, describing it as a "precision" strike upon "safe houses and meeting