Today in Falluja

The US has condemned the killing and dismembering of four American civilian contractors in Iraq... The four men were shot and burnt in their cars in Falluja, before a cheering crowd dismembered the corpses and hung two of them from a bridge... Witnesses said the contractors were passing through Falluja in two four-wheel-drive vehicles when gunmen opened fire.

An angry crowd surrounded the cars, throwing stones and setting the vehicles ablaze.

The corpses were dragged from the wreckage and television pictures showed one burnt body being kicked and stamped on, while at least two were tied to cars and driven through the streets, witnesses said.

Adults and children hacked the bodies to pieces, before lynching two of the charred remains from a bridge spanning the Euphrates River.