Ten people, including four Americans, were killed on Thursday as two suicide bombers penetrated into Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Hours after the bold attacks, US warplanes and helicopters launched fresh air strikes on the flashpoint Iraqi city of Fallujah, where Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, is believed to be holed up.

Two insurgents set off bombs at a market and a cafe popular with US troops and civilians inside what is supposed to be the safest place in Iraq, which houses government offices and the US and British embassies.

"The blasts were so powerful that my child kept crying," said awitness working in the compound.

An Iraqi man who owned a shop nearby and would not be identified, told Xinhua that US forces arrived at the scene later to collect body parts of the victims.

The group led by Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man, claimed responsibility for the unprecedented attacks, according to a statement posted on the Internet.

US CONDEMNS ATTACKS, IRAQI SECURITY OFFICIAL VOWS TO RETALIATE��

The United States on Thursday condemned the attacks on the Green Zone and Iraq's interim government vowed to strike back at militants fighting US-led and Iraqi forces.

"We condemn these terrorist attacks. It is another example of where there are terrorists who want to attack us and want to attack anybody who is trying to establish opportunity and freedom for the Iraqi people," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a news briefing.

Boucher said US embassy personnel at this point had been instructed to remain inside the embassy complex until further notice.

"An investigation is under way, and security sweeps are occurring in the area," Boucher said.

Meanwhile, Iraq's National Security Adviser Kassim Daoud pledged at a news conference to retaliate. "We deliver a message to terrorism in all its forms -- to Zarqawi terrorism and al Qaedaand the remnants of the former regime -- we are waiting for them and we will attack them wherever they are," Daoud said.

FALLUJAH DELEGATION SUSPENDS PEACE TALKS WITH GOVERNMENT

A delegation from Fallujah suspended peace talks with the government on Thursday because of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's "impossible" demand that residents give up Zarqawi and his fighters.

Allawi warned Wednesday that Fallujah must surrender Zarqawi and other foreign fighters or face military attack.

A member of the delegation put his fingers at the American forces for torpedoing the talks.

"It seems that the Americans do not want the negotiations to succeed between the people of Fallujah and the government," SheikhAbdul Hamid Jadoo told Xinhua on Thursday.

He pointed out that continuing air bombing of residential areasand the killing of the innocent showed that they were not serious in making the negotiations a success.

"If the government represents sovereignty and has its own will,then the negotiations would succeed, but if the government is justa front for the Americans, the negotiations would certainly fail,"he added.

The US military launches almost daily air raids on suspected hideouts of insurgents in Fallujah, but local residents claim thatthe victims are often ordinary civilians.

IRAQI PRESIDENT CALLS ON IRAQIS TO UNITE AGAINST TERRORISTS

Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer on Thursday called on Iraqis to respect the holy days of Ramadan, which begins Friday, and avoid bloodshed.

In a speech aired on the government-run Al-Iraqiya TV station, al-Yawer said Iraqis are being put to the test by a spate of violence that has shaken the nation.

"Brothers, we are receiving the holy month of Ramadan as our Iraqi people are being tested in their faith, patience and all itsnoble beliefs," al-Yawer said, urging Iraqis to rise above division and unite against terrorism.

US and Iraqi forces have stepped up military operations on the eve of the holy Muslim month in a bid to forestall violence as last year's Ramadan period was marked by a major escalation of insurgent attacks.

Source: Xinhua