IRAQ U.S. airstrikes continue to target Fallujah

Protesters demanded that Muqtada al-Sadr and his aides leave Najaf.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A U.S. jet fired missiles in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah today, the fourth day of attacks targeting the city where U.S. and Iraqi troops have no control, officials said.
One man was killed in the attack, Dr. Ahmed Thaer of the Fallujah General Hospital said. The attack followed airstrikes Thursday that reportedly killed nine people in Fallujah and dozens more in the northern town of Tal Afar, also one of the cities that has fallen under insurgent control and became a "no-go" zone for U.S. troops.
Late Thursday, the regional government's television station reported that U.S. and Iraqi government forces had agreed to allow medical teams to enter Tal Afar to care for people wounded from the airstrikes there, but that military operations would continue "until the city is liberated from outsiders and saboteurs so that peace can be restored."
Protesters
Meanwhile today, about 1,000 protesters marched through Najaf's old quarter to demand that Muqtada al-Sadr and his aides leave this holy city that has been ravaged by fighting between the radical cleric's followers and U.S. and Iraqi troops.
Chanting, "Muqtada, the trash, is a leader of looters," the demonstrators walked past buildings hit by three weeks of fighting and insisted that al-Sadr's office be shut down. Iraqi soldiers kept the protesters from marching to al-Sadr's office.
They also demanded the Iraqi government investigate the practices of a religious court that al-Sadr's office operated and punish those in charge of it.
The court, which worked separately from Iraq's legal system, ordered arrests and handed out punishments. It stopped functioning after al-Sadr's followers relinquished the control they had in areas here as part of a peace agreement to end the violence.
Sheik Ali Smeisim, an aide to al-Sadr, said the demonstration was an attempt to create tension.
"We were expecting such things," he said. "Whenever there is a chance for peaceful solutions, some people hold protests to escalate the situation."