Two Marines killed, three wounded, in rebel ambush

Two Marines were killed and three others wounded when they came under fire during house-clearing operations in Fallujah, the US military said today.

Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said the US troops were ambushed by insurgents from inside a house as they entered it yesterday.

Marines responded with gunfire, killing three rebels hiding inside, Sattler said.

US troops have continued house-to-house clearing operations in the former-rebel stronghold, which came under a massive week-long US-led assault that began on November 8. Though most of the major fighting has ended, pockets of insurgent holdouts remain throughout Fallujah.

Sattler said about 50% of the houses in the city had been cleared.

“We will continue to clear out houses till every one is secure. We’ve taken more and more of their safehouses. They’re running out of places to hide,” he said.

Sattler vowed that the city, 40 miles west of Baghdad, would be safe in time for January’s nationwide elections, adding: “We want every Fallujan to vote from their house.”