Renewed clashes overnight in the flashpoint Iraqi city of Falluja have left at least nine Iraqis dead and several injured, local doctors say. US forces called in air support after insurgents attacked a joint patrol of US marines and Iraqi troops, an American military spokesman said. According to residents, a house in the Shuhada neighbourhood was destroyed. "I heard a very powerful explosion around 10:30 pm (1830 GMT) coming from the Shuhada neighbourhood," a resident told AFP news agency. "It was an air strike on a house," he said.
Additional:On Friday, Dr. Salim Ibrahim at Fallujah General Hospital said he believed some 13 Iraqis were killed and 14 others wounded during fierce overnight fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. Ibrahim could not give an exact count of the dead, because many of their bodies had been torn up in bombings.
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Witnesses reported hearing more than 60 mortar rounds fired toward the eastern edge of the city, where Americans are based, and planes flying overhead. U.S. Marines suffered no casualties.
The military said the fighting began when insurgents attacked a joint patrol of Marines and Iraqi troops with gunfire, mortars and rocket propelled grenades. The troops responded with gunfire, tank fire and aircraft bombing raids, which hit a building the insurgents had fled to, the military reported. |