US forces corner militants in Fallujah
The Iraqi flag was flying over the city and a US general said the rebels had been blinded by the speed of the onslaught.
The speed of the US drive in Fallujah may indicate that most Sunni fighters and their leaders abandoned the city before the offensive and moved elsewhere to carry on the fight, officers said. The most notorious militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is believed to have fled the city.
Major General Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan, the commander of Iraqi troops in Fallujah, said fighters are still trying to escape the tight encirclement. He said people were seen earlier trying to slip away by swimming across the Euphrates River.
Residents said they were running out of food in a city that had its electricity cut two days ago.
Guerrillas accelerated attacks outside Fallujah in an attempt to open up new fronts to divert US-Iraqi forces, with at least 28 people killed in violence across the country - including 10 people killed when a car bomb targeted a police patrol in Baghdad after sunset.
Meanwhile, Maj Gen Mohan said troops found "hostage slaughterhouses" where foreign captives had been killed.
The abandoned houses had hostages' documents, CDs showing captives being killed, and black clothing worn by militants in videos, Gen Mohan said.
But it appeared troops did not find any of the at least nine foreigners still in kidnappers' hands.
Al-Jazeera television broadcast a videotape with a militant group claiming to have captured 20 Iraqi soldiers in Fallujah. Men wearing Iraqi uniforms were shown with their backs to the camera.
A masked militant read a statement on the tape, but the Qatar-based station did not carry the audio. The station said the militants promised not to kill the prisoners shown on the tape but threatened to kill others captured in the future.
Authorities clamped a curfew on the northern city of Mosul as US and Iraqi forces clashed with gunmen there. Fierce fighting also took place in and around Baghdad and in Ramadi, a Sunni stronghold where explosions shook the city as US troops and gunmen battled near the main government building. One US soldier was killed by a bomb north of the capital.
Still, US and Iraqi troops were pushing ahead in Fallujah. Some fighters have sought to surrender, government spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb told reporters, offering an amnesty to those who have not committed "major crimes".
Lt Gen John F Sattler, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said insurgents had been reduced to "small pockets, blind, moving throughout the city. And we will continue to hunt them down and destroy them".
Major Francis Piccoli, of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said US forces now control 70% of the city.
US and Iraqi forces seized Fallujah's city hall compound before dawn after a gun battle with insurgents who hit a US tank with anti-armour rockets. Iraqi soldiers swept into a police station in the compound and raised a flag above it.
Gunmen fired on troops from a mosque minaret, sparking a battle there, BBC's embedded correspondent Paul Wood reported.
Marines said the insurgents waved a white flag at one stage but then opened fire, prompting the Marines to call in airstrikes, Mr Wood said.
Residents reported heavy clashes and artillery shelling in the Jolan and Jumhuriya neighbourhood, along the central highway.
Dead bodies lay on the streets of Jumhuriya, with dogs hovering around them, witnesses said.
Most of Fallujah's 200,000 to 300,000 residents are believed to have fled the city before the US assault. Civilian casualties in the attack are not known, though US commanders say they believe they are low.
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