In the sixth U.S. airstrike since last month, American jets Sunday hit a position in Fallujah purportedly used by foreign militants, demolishing a house and killing 14 people, hospital and local officials said.

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gave the go-ahead for the attack, according to his office and the U.S. military.

In previous strikes, the United States said it was targeting safehouses used by the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant blamed for masterminding car bombings and other attacks in Iraq.

The latest attack targeted foreign militants' "fighting positions and trench lines near the remains of a house," according to a statement by U.S. Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel. About 25 fighters were there just before the attack, he said, citing Iraqi and coalition intelligence sources.

Local residents said the attack destroyed a house filled with civilians.

Allawi has promised strong cooperation with the Americans in rooting out terrorism and said after a July 5 airstrike in Fallujah that his government had provided the intelligence for the strike. Allawi consulted with U.S. forces Saturday about the strike, his office said.

"The multinational force asked Prime Minister Allawi for permission to launch strikes on some specific places where some terrorists were hiding," an official in Allawi's office said on condition of anonymity. "Allawi gave his permission,"

Explosions from the strike about 2 a.m.rocked the city. Scores of people ran to the scene and dug through the wreckage looking for survivors. One witness, who declined to give his name, said the house belonged to a "very poor family." Angry crowds gathered around the house, chanting "God is great."

"We heard the sound of jetfighters and then we heard four explosions in the house occupied by civilian residents," Lt. Saad Khalaf of the Fallujah Brigade, the local defense force.

Body parts were scattered around the scene; some remains were stacked and covered by a gray blanket.

The attack killed 14 people and injured three, according to Saad al-Amili, a Health Ministry official.

Source: agencies