Iraqis Say U.S. Strike Kills 13

Warplanes Target Alleged Zarqawi Followers In Fallujah

(CBS/AP)  American warplanes struck a building in rebel-held Fallujah where the U.S. command said leaders of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network were meeting early Friday. A doctor said the attack killed 13 people, including a groom on his wedding night, and wounded 17 others.

Late Thursday, rockets struck a Baghdad hotel crowded with foreign contractors and journalists, seen as a symbol of continued U.S. and Western dominance since the formal handover of power to an interim Iraqi government June 28.

The latest attacks came as an aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr offered on Thursday to disarm his Mahdi Army militia in a move that could bring an end to weeks of fighting in Baghdad's Shiite district Sadr City.

The government cautiously welcomed the offer and suggested other militant groups also lay down their arms.

In other developments:

British hostage Kenneth Bigley has been killed by his captors in Iraq, Abu Dhabi television reported Friday. The British Foreign Office said it could not confirm.

Acting on a tip, Task Force Baghdad soldiers stopped a truck carrying more than 1,500 155-mm artillery rounds Thursday one of the largest seizures to date, U.S. command said. The driver and passengers were detained.

Beginning in 1999, Saddam Hussein used money skimmed from the oil-for-food program to buy arms from six governments and private companies, The New York Times reports, citing the findings of the Iraq Survey Group published this week. The purchases did not significantly improve his conventional forces, and he lacked WMD stockpiles or programs.

On the eve of the Australian election, Prime Minister John Howard said Friday he was disappointed that the intelligence he used to justify Australia's participation in the U.S.-led war in Iraq was wrong, but would not alter course on Iraq if re-elected.

A British Cabinet minister apologized on behalf of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government for relying on faulty intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq. But Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt insisted late Thursday that Britain had been right to join the U.S.-led coalition that overthrew Saddam.

A Saudi-proposal to send peacekeeping troops from Muslim countries to Iraq has yet to get off the ground but the idea is not dead yet, the Malaysian deputy prime minister said Friday.

The U.S. general leading efforts to rebuild Iraq's armed forces joined NATO envoys Friday seeking to resolve lingering differences over the scale of the alliance contribution to the training operation.

Iraq's interim government intends to proceed with elections in January even if the United Nations withdraws its experts from the country and insurgents dramatically step up attacks, according to the top U.N. election official here and a senior member of the Iraqi election commission.

Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine General who criticized the Bush administration's run-up to the war, now says he expects U.S. forces to be in Iraq for five to ten years. And retired Air Force General Chuck Horner, who headed the air campaign in the 1991 Gulf War, says it'll take at least ten years before Iraq is stable enough for the U.S. to withdraw its troops.

In Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, Dr. Ahmed Saeed said his hospital received 13 dead, including the groom, and 17 wounded, including the bride. He said most of the injured were female relatives of the groom who were staying at the house after the wedding celebration.

Mohammed Jawad, who lives next door, said he had just moved into the central neighborhood to escape repeated shelling on Fallujah's outskirts. His brother and six nephews were killed in the strike, which damaged their house.

"This attack shows that there is no safe place in Fallujah, and the Americans are not differentiating between civilians and armed men," Jawad said in tears, as he was treated for shrapnel wounds to his face and hand.

The U.S. command, however, said "credible intelligence sources" reported terrorist leaders were meeting at the targeted house.

The attack was among a dozen "precision strikes" launched since last month against al-Zarqawi's dreaded Tawhid and Jihad network, which has claimed responsibility for kidnapping and beheading several foreign hostages. The group is also believed behind mortar attacks, suicide bombings and shooting sprees that have killed scores in recent months.

According to the U.S. statement, those strikes have dealt a "significant blow" to al-Zarqawi's movement, killing several key figures including his chief lieutenant Mohammed al-Lubnani and spiritual adviser Abu Anas al-Shami.

American and Iraqi authorities are trying to curb the growing insurgency in Baghdad and elsewhere so national elections can take place by the end of January. Some U.S. military officials have expressed doubt that balloting will be possible in all parts of the country.

On Thursday, three rockets slammed into Baghdad's Sheraton hotel, the Interior Ministry said, triggering thunderous explosions, shattering windows and setting off small fires. Dazed guests, including Western journalists, contractors and a bride and groom on their wedding night stumbled to safety through the smoke and debris.

There were no deaths or serious injuries, Iraqi officials said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said the rockets were fired from the back of a truck parked near Firdous Square, where jubilant crowds hauled down a statue of Saddam Hussein on April 9, 2003, marking the fall of the capital to American forces.

A fourth rocket blew up inside the vehicle, he said, as security guards responded with volleys of automatic weapons and machine gun fire.

"It was a shattering explosion, a crack and then a massive, massive thud," said John Cookson of Fox News, which maintains an office in the Sheraton. "The whole room shook."

Earlier Thursday, a mortar shell exploded in the U.S.-controlled Green Zone across the Tigris River from the hotel compound. There was no report of damage or casualties.

©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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