Fighting flares in new parts of Fallujah

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.

Yesterday’s violence, carried on live television with images of fiery destruction, came as the US was under increasing international pressure to prevent a revival of the bloodshed in Fallujah during the first two weeks of April.