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Series of explosions rattle Fallujah

A series of explosions rocked Fallujah and gunfire rang out in the city yesterday in new fighting after a heavy battle the night before in which US warplanes and artillery pounded the city in a show of force against Sunni insurgents holed up in a city slum.

Gunfire and mortar blasts could be heard for more than an hour from southwestern Fallujah in the afternoon, then three thunderous explosions shook the area as US warplanes circled over head. A black plume of smoke rose over the area.

Despite three straight days of battles in the city, US officials say they are pushing ahead with negotiations to resolve the Fallujah standoff rather than launch an all-out offensive. Iraqi police took up posts in parts of the city, laying the groundwork for Marine patrols to begin circulating in an effort to establish control.

In southern Iraq, gunmen ambushed a Ukrainian convoy outside the city of Kut, barraging it with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. One Ukrainian was kileld and two wounded, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr succeeded in driving Ukrainian peacekeepers out of Kut earlier this month, but US troops later swept into the city, pushing out most of the militiamen.

US troops aiming to capture al-Sadr and suppress his militia began yesterday to gradually expand their operations out of their base in the holy city Najaf. Soldiers set up checkpoints on the road outside the base -- the main route between the center of Najaf and the center of neighboring Kufa.

The military is seeking to hike up pressure on al-Sadr but is treading carefully, promising to stay away from Shiite holy sites at the heart of the city. The base, where US troops moved in earlier this week, lies about 5km from the Shiite shrines.

A US soldier died Tuesday in Baghdad, raising the US death toll for April to 115 -- the same number killed during the invasion of Iraq that toppled former president Saddam Hussein last year. Up to 1,200 Iraqis also have been killed this month.

Outside Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a military convoy headed in the direction of Fallujah, killing or wounding at least two people.

After the attack, a cargo truck was left with its tires shot out and windshield pockmarked with bullets. Pools of blood were on either side of the truck's cab, and US soldiers at the scene said two casualties were taken away. Their nationalities were unknown.

Yesterday's fighting in Fallujah came after a heavy battle the night before against insurgents holed up in the northern neighborhood of Jolan, a slum area of tight alleyways. Tuesday night, AC-130 gunships and artillery pounded insurgent targets in Jolan for well over an hour, sending huge plumes of smoke and orange flames into the sky.

The next day, at least eight destroyed houses could be seen in the Jolan neighborhood. Iraqi hospitals reported yesterday that two people were wounded in the fighting. Militants, however, often do not evacuate their casualties to hospitals fearing that the injured could be arrested by American forces.

US Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the battle was sparked when troops sighted two trucks moving through the city with their lights off in an area where insurgents had been seen active earlier in the day.

The AC-130s destroyed the trucks, and ammunition in the trucks exploded, Kimmitt told the US television network NBC's Today show.

The length of the barrage on Tuesday night suggested US forces are seeking to wear down the insurgents' strong points in Jolan. While troops deal with Jolan using firepower, elsewhere in the city the military is sending in patrols to establish control.

Those patrols are to begin today, but will avoid the Jolan area, commanders say.
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