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.

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.

American troops were fighting Iraqi forces in the centre of Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit today, in what is expected to be the last battle of the war.

US forces battled fighters still loyal to Saddam Hussein in Baghdad today as rampant looting persisted in the capital.

US Marines said yesterday they had found photographs of burned bodies and a device to deliver electric shocks in what they suspect was a torture centre used

US Marines have discovered an enemy weapons cache in the Shah-e-Kot valley. A US military spokesman would not say whether any enemy fighters were at the site when it was attacked, or if anyone was killed.