US targets insurgents in Fallujah

US forces pounded parts of Fallujah from the air and ground yesterday, targeting insurgents in a city where American forces were said to be gearing up for a major offensive.

Nearby, three British soldiers were killed in an attack by guerrillas as they patrolled in central Iraq.

Al-Jazeera television broadcast a threat by an unspecified armed group to strike oil installations and government buildings if Americans launch an all-out assault on Fallujah. The report was accompanied by a videotape showing about 20 armed men brandishing weapons.

The attack that killed the three British soldiers also left a civilian Iraqi interpreter dead and eight British troops wounded, said Lt Commander Ahmed Ajala, a British military spokesman in Basra. Six of the wounded soldiers were released from a hospital and the other two were expected to return to their regiment today, he said.

The British soldiers were part of an 850-strong unit who were deployed closer to Baghdad last week to allow US Marines to reposition in Anbar province, home of guerrilla strongholds of Fallujah, Ramadi, Hit and Husaybah.

The move from the relatively peaceful sector to the American-controlled zone, carries the risk of higher casualties and is politically sensitive for British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The deaths Thursday raise the number of British troops killed in Iraq to 73.

Early Thursday, US aircraft fired on several barricaded militant positions in northeast and southeastern Fallujah, the military said. Later in the day, US artillery batteries fired two to three dozen 155mm shells at insurgent bastions in the city.

US forces are preparing for a major offensive in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, and other Sunni militant strongholds in hopes of curbing the insurgency ahead of January’s election.

An Iraqi National Guard patrol was hit yesterday by a car bomb in Iskandariyah, an insurgent hot spot 30 miles south of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 15, Iraqi hospital officials said.

Also, a suicide car bomber killed three and wounded nine others when his explosive-laden vehicle barrelled into the city government offices in Dujail, 46 miles north of the capital, police said.