| US artillery and aircraft fire pounded sectors of the Iraqi rebel city of Fallujah today, sending up clouds of smoke, residents said. The smoke shrouded the southeastern industrial zone, which houses mainly metal and mechanical workshops, as residents charged that US forces had lobbed artillery into the area. Within minutes, the artillery fire was followed by an air strike on the Shuhada district in southern Fallujah. The US military has intensified its strikes on Fallujah this month, targeting suspected hideouts of the insurgency and alleged top al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. The city, 50 kilometres west of Baghdad, has been a no-go zone for US troops since a deadly offensive in April on the Muslim fundamentalist enclave ended in a stand-off. |