FALLUJAH, Iraq, Aug 11 (AFP) - Two people were killed and four wounded on Wednesday in a US airstrike on the Sunni Muslim insurgent bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, police and an AFP correspondent said.
The correspondent saw a house and car on fire after hearing a massive explosion at around 5:00 pm (1300 GMT) and seeing US planes roaring overhead.
"Two people were killed and four injured," said a police official at the hospital in Fallujah after the blast in the southern district of al-Shuhada.
The US military confirmed that air strikes were ordered after marines outside the city were attacked by insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades and using a crew-served weapon, a step down from a rocket launcher.
"Air support was requested and the targets were struck with precision munitions late this afternoon," said a marine spokesman.
He said the number of casualties was unknown but said approximately eight men were with the crew-served weapon.
On August 1, at least 10 Iraqis were killed and 40 wounded when US planes pounded targets in Fallujah and during clashes between US troops and insurgents, medics said.
The US military has carried out at least seven air strikes on Fallujah over the past 50 days, in which it said dozens of suspected loyalists of Al-Qaeda terror operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi were killed.
Zarqawi, who has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head, is blamed for some of the bloodiest car bombings and attacks in Iraq as well as kidnappings of foreign nationals.