Battle of Falluja under way

Medical sources told Aljazeera that 12 people had been killed and double that number injured during clashes between fighters and US forces.

Abu Bakr al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi journalist, told Aljazeera the clashes were the most violent the city has witnessed since April 2003.

"US tanks, armoured vehicles, F16 and C130 fighters are taking part in the attack on Falluja," al-Dulaimi said.

"Violent clashes are now going on in the western areas of the city. US forces are backed by tanks and helicopters", he added.

"Clashes have also erupted in Julan neighbourhood. Resistance in these areas is fierce," he said. "The city's defenders are responding to the US attacks with everything at their disposal."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DA2FE7D7-FA3C-473B-B094-AC7AF29E392B.htm

As the US-led troops move forward into the western outskirts of the city, they are coming under heavy mortar and machine-gun fire from insurgents inside Falluja.

Armed men in black uniforms have been seen taking up positions inside the city.

Two US marines were killed in the area when their bulldozer overturned, but there are no other confirmed reports of casualties.

Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is believed to be in the city, has urged resistance against the US-led attack and said victory will come "in a matter of days".

In other developments:

* In Ramadi, another town where there has been strong resistance to the US-led troops, suicide attackers are reported to have attacked US forces during clashes

* Heavy gunfire is reported in Baghdad during clashes between US troops and insurgents

* European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana says there is little prospect of Iraq holding national elections in January as planned because of the deteriorating security situation.

Mr Allawi said 38 people were captured, including four foreign fighters, during the Monday morning raid on Falluja's hospital.

On Sunday, Mr Allawi declared a 60-day state of emergency across the country in response to the escalation of violence by militants.

More than 60 people have died in two days of co-ordinated attacks by insurgents in an apparent response to the US military preparations around Falluja.

The BBC's Quil Lawrence, with US forces near Falluja, said troops with night vision seized the two bridges, which are main routes west out of the city.

One of the bridges was the site of the killing of four US contractors that sparked the first attempt to retake Falluja in April.

US planes and artillery have been battering what they call insurgent positions for the past few weeks to make entry into the city easier.

Our correspondent says the marines believe Falluja will be their biggest engagement since Hue, the Vietnamese city they captured in 1968, losing 142 men and killing thousands of the enemy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3992263.stm

Several hundred Iraqi troops were sent into Fallujah's main hospital after US forces sealed off the area. The troops detained about 50 men of military age inside the hospital, but about half were later released.

Iraqi doctors said 10 people were killed and 11 others injured during overnight clashes. Two US marines were killed in the assault.

Dr Salih al-Issawi, the head of the hospital, said he had asked US officers to allow doctors and ambulances go inside the main part of the city to help the wounded but they refused. There was no confirmation from the US military.

During the siege of Falluja last April, the hospital was a main source of reports about civilian casualties that US officials insisted were overblown. Those reports generated strong public outrage in Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab world, prompting the Bush administration to call off the offensive.

There is little guarantee that the fresh assault will calm the insurgency.

The Iraqi president, Ghazi al-Yawar, has spoken out publicly against the operation.

A similar attack last month on Samarra, another rebel stronghold north of Baghdad, was hailed a success. But insurgents promptly flooded back into the city.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1346088,00.html