US warplanes launched their biggest air strike in Iraq since at least 2006 on Thursday, bombarding date palm groves on Baghdad's southern outskirts with more than 40,000 pounds of bombs in a matter of minutes.
Two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets struck more than 40 al Qaeda targets in three zones of Arab Jabour, a lush district just south of the capital that has become a haven for fighters driven out of other areas. The attack formed part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a major countrywide offensive against al Qaeda guerrillas that US forces announced this week.
"Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds," the military said in a statement. "Each bomber passed over twice and the F-16s followed to complete the set." US forces spokesman Major Winfield Danielson said it was the biggest air strike in Iraq since at least 2006.
A spokeswoman for US forces in central Iraq, Major Allayne Conway, said it was too soon to say how many people had been killed in the airstrikes, but a damage assessment was under way.
"We certainly have our opponents on the ropes and we're going to go after him while he is on the ropes," said Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Wilson, deputy commander of the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division in a statement.
The United Nations' World Health Organisation released figures on Wednesday estimating that about 151,000 Iraqi civilians had died violently in Iraq in the first three years of the war, with the exact figure falling somewhere between 104,000 and 223,000.