Falluja comes under intense US fire

Several civilians have been killed in US air strikes

United States military aircraft were seen bombarding sectors of Falluja, Aljazeera’s correspondent in the city reported.

A number of houses in the al-Askari sector of the city were targeted early on Sunday morning, Aljazeera’s Hussain Dali reported.

He said the aerial bombardment was preceded by intense mortar shelling.

Medical sources in Falluja hospital told Aljazeera’s correspondent that a total of four dead and 23 wounded had been admitted into two different hospitals.

Falluja residents told our correspondent they were surprised that their district was targeted as it was located at the furthest stretches from the site of earlier fighting.

Bloody day

The latest air strike comes on a day that saw fierce clashes between US occupation troops and resistance fighters in and around the city.

Three Iraqis were killed and 15 others wounded in a foiled bid by US occupation forces to enter Falluja on Saturday morning.

Our correspondent in Baghdad said six US armoured vehicles tried to enter the city, 50km west of the capital, from the east around 0630 GMT on Saturday. However, a fierce firefight pushed the armoured column back, he said.

There was no word on US casualties.

Civilians hit

About 13 Iraqis were killed and 14 others injured in clashes between resistance fighters and US forces in the town of Falluja amid reports of air strikes destroying civilian homes on Thursday.

Dr Salim Ibrahim at Falluja General Hospital estimated on Friday that 13 Iraqis were killed in the town west of Baghdad. Ibrahim told the Associated Press he could not give an exact count of the dead, because many of their bodies had been torn apart in the bombings.

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