US marines announced the end of the bloody, near four-week siege of Fallujah today and will hand the city over to an all-Iraqi force, commanded by one of Saddam Hussein’s generals .

US forces delayed joint Iraqi-American patrols in Fallujah after three days of fighting and pressure increased on the United States to prevent an escalation of violence in the besieged city.

US warplanes pounded Fallujah with 500lb laser-guided bombs and US Marines battled with Iraqi insurgents near a train station and in neighbourhoods that had seemed to be quieting.

US troops fought a gun battle overnight with insurgents near the Iraqi holy Shiite city of Najaf, killing 43 gunmen and destroying an anti-aircraft system belonging to the insurgents, the US military in Baghdad said.

Iraqi insurgents targeted the British run city of Basra today killing at least 55 people, including ten children on their way to schools, in a series of bomb blasts.

Up to 40 Iraqi insurgents attacked US marines in northern Fallujah today, setting off a heavy gunbattle, marines said, as an agreement bringing peace to the besieged city hit snags.

A 2,500-STRONG US force backed by tanks and artillery pushed to the outskirts of the Shi'ite city of Najaf last night for a showdown with radical Shi'ite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.

A rebel sniper shot and wounded two US Marines patrolling an industrial zone in the besieged city of Fallujah today and an ensuing gun battle left at least one of the insurgents dead.

A third round of negotiations aimed at ending fighting in the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah will be held today, a US commander said.

US forces today regained control of a southern Iraqi city seized this week by a rebellious Shiite militia and resumed their offensive in Fallujah after a brief halt for talks.

SHI'ITE Muslim militants were in full control of two key Iraqi cities yesterday as violence escalated and Sunni fighters killed a US marine in the battle for Fallujah.

Militiaman loyal to an anti-US Shiite cleric controlled large swathes of three Iraqi cities today after clashes with US-led coalition forces, while US marines backed by airstrikes fought insurgents for the second day around a mosque in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah.

US MARINES fired a rocket and dropped a 500-pound laser-guided bomb on the Fallujah mosque compound yesterday as they found themselves mired in street battles that have left almost 300 people dead in three days of the type of warfare that generals had dreaded.