(CNN) On Tuesday, the U.S. Marines told CNN that air strikes flattened insurgent safe houses used by militants linked to al Qaeda in western Iraq. The air attacks near the Syrian border killed at least seven militants, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force said. A top operative called Abu Islam was among the dead, the force said. Police in Baghdad reported that 56 civilians were killed in the strikes. (...) Four 500-pound bombs were dropped on a house outside Husayba in the first raid at 6:20 a.m. (10:20 p.m. Monday ET), a statement said. Two more bombs were later dropped on a house the Marines said was occupied by Abu Islam.

1 Tonne US-Sprengstoff, um ein Haus in einem Dorf zu bombardieren, um 1 Rebellenführer zu töten? Und die anderern 55 toten Männer, Frauen und Kinder?

Lt. Col. Steve Boylan of the Coalition Press Information Center said: "We target only military targets and take precautions on any type of civilian casualties on all of our operations."

Da bin ich aber beruhigt.