USATODAY.com Full Article

BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. forces battled insurgents around the rebel stronghold of Fallujah on Sunday after two American soldiers died when their helicopters crashed south of Baghdad. Many Iraqi Christians skipped Mass following bombings at churches in the capital.

Fierce clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents broke out on a highway east of Fallujah and in the southern part of the city, witnesses said. Residents reported fresh aerial and artillery bombardment as explosions boomed across the city.

Plumes of smoke were seen rising from the eastern neighborhood of Askari and southern area of Shuhada as families began to flee the area, residents reported. They said a Humvee was seen burning in the eastern edge of the city.

The Sunday attacks followed an overnight strike by U.S. jets, blasting what the American command said was a checkpoint operated by the feared Tawhid and Jihad terror movement of Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Three people were killed, according to the Fallujah hospital.

On Saturday, five churches in Baghdad were firebombed, causing no casualties but putting the Christian community on edge as violence flared while Iraqi Muslims began marking the holy month of Ramadan.



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Yahoo/Reuters Full Article

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes pounded Falluja Sunday and American troops reinforced positions around the city in a battle targeting foreign militants led by America's top enemy in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said last week Falluja must hand over Zarqawi's group or face military action.

Hospital officials reported casualties from the air strikes but said heavy fighting prevented ambulances from reaching them.

Residents said explosions and heavy gunfire accompanied clashes on the eastern edge of the city, which pitted U.S. tanks against fighters with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.



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