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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi militants said Thursday they had killed three Turkish captives, as France pressed on with diplomatic efforts to win the release of two French journalists held hostage by another guerrilla group.

The Arabic Al Jazeera satellite station said the Tawhid and Jihad group had claimed responsibility for killing the Turks.

Tawhid and Jihad is the group led by Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Washington's most wanted man in Iraq with a million price on his head.

The U.S. military said it had launched an air strike late on Wednesday on two buildings in the restive city of Falluja being used as safe houses by Zarqawi's loyalists, and had earlier observed the men killing a captive and burying his body.

"Surrounded by fields, the two targeted buildings served as safe houses and meeting locations for known Zarqawi associates," a U.S. military statement said.

"The Zarqawi associates were observed removing a man from the trunk of a car, executing him, then burying his body."

Doctors in Falluja said at least 17 people were killed in the air strike, including three children and one woman.

U.S. forces pulled out of Falluja in early May after weeks of fighting that killed hundreds of Iraqis and sparked nationwide outrage. Security was handed over to an Iraqi force, but the city is largely in the control of insurgents and is regarded as a haven for foreign militants.

The U.S. military has launched several air strikes on suspected Zarqawi safe houses in Falluja in recent months.

Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim Jaafari, who has been critical of some U.S.-led military operations, said air strikes were not the best tactic for pacifying Falluja and efforts should focus instead on isolating insurgents and cutting their supply routes.

"Blind bombing does not distinguish the terrorist from the non-terrorist," he told Reuters in an interview shortly before the latest air strike Wednesday night.

It appears reasonable for the occupying forces to bomb residential areas and to watch hostages being executed.


posted by kwacky at 5:55 pm