Embattled Falluja rocked by fresh fighting

Shelling and fierce exchanges of gunfire broke out mid-afternoon on Wednesday in the north-western district of Golan, which had already been pounded by airborne gunships overnight.

Witnesses said jet aircraft, helicopters and planes joined the action. Aljazeera footage showed plumes of black smoke rising from several buildings that had been hit by US airborne gunships.

According to a US spokesman two resistance positions were targeted and a gun battle broke out near the railway station.

Amid warnings from the UN's envoy to Iraq of bloody consequences should talks fail in Falluja, an AC-130 gunship, first used in Vietnam, blasted Golan overnight as US forces said they were responding to fire from Falluja's defenders.

Hopes for a deal

The US military spokesman in Baghdad, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, told ABC television he still hoped for a deal.

"We are going to continue to push the political track as far as it is going to take us. If it does not take us far enough, we are prepared to use military means," he said.

"If they have to take this to a fight, that's going to be a one-way fight."

Falluja has seen the fiercest fighting by the US-led occupation forces, with scores of US soldiers and hundreds of Iraqis killed there this month despite a fragile ceasefire.

Aljazeera + Agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1FDCC6EB-84E2-4840-97B2-32CE2F68A85F.htm