US Marines die in Fallujah as refugees return

US Marines battled rebels in Fallujah today in heavy fighting that erupted as the first residents were returning to the devastated city.

At least three Marines were killed in the area, the military said.

Warplanes dropped bombs and tanks shelled suspected guerrilla positions in the heaviest fighting in weeks since American troops seized the former insurgent stronghold in a week long offensive last month.

F-18 fighter-bombers were seen striking at targets in the city’s outskirts. Tank and artillery fire was also heard.

US officials said Marines and insurgents were killed in the Fallujah fighting.

American commanders have hailed the November offensive to retake Fallujah as a major tactical victory.

But pockets of insurgents remain in the city – and violence elsewhere in Iraq has only escalated since the capture of Fallujah, after many guerrillas apparently slipped out of the city to operate in central and northern Iraq.

An American soldier was also killed today by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, the military said.

The deaths raised the number of US troops who have died since the start of the war in March 2003 to at least 1,325, according to an unofficial count by The Associated Press.

The new Fallujah fighting came as the first group of returning residents lined up at checkpoints into the city, brandishing documents to prove to Iraqi policemen that they had the right to enter.

Once in the city, they visited the remains of bombed-out and looted homes they fled – along with most of Fallujah’s population of approximately 250,000 people.

“This is all that’s left of my property,” one man said, waving a dusty blanket.

The return of the tens of thousands of residents who have been crowded into camps or living with relatives in Baghdad and elsewhere is a key part of attempts to restore and rebuild Fallujah, particularly with January’s elections approaching.

Officials had planned to allow the return of 2,000 residents, all from a small Fallujah neighbourhood called Andalus, a generally commercial district. But, by late afternoon, only about 200 had made the trip.