U.S. planes strike 40 Iraq targets

BAGHDAD, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. forces mounted a major air offensive against al-Qaida targets Thursday on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, the military said.

In one of the largest airstrikes in months, American bombers and fighter jets dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs on suspected militant hideouts, storehouses and defensive positions in the southern outskirts of Baghdad, The New York Times reported.

Two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighter aircraft dropped 38 bombs within 10 minutes near the Latifiya district south of Baghdad, the military said.

Col. Terry Ferrell, commander of the Second Brigade, Third Infantry Division, said an extraordinary amount of firepower was necessary to clear the areas, which U.S. forces had long neglected, the newspaper said.

The airstrikes were part of a nationwide offensive, dubbed Operation Phantom Phoenix, which includes a continuing sweep in Diyala Province, north of Baghdad, and raids Thursday in Salahuddin Province, northwest of the capital, between Samarra and Ramadi.