US forces punched to the heart of Falluja Tuesday after fierce fighting with guerrillas in Iraq's most rebellious city, a US military source said.

The source gave no details about the advance to the center, the furthest US forces have penetrated in the Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad in seven months.

Residents confirmed US-led forces were near the middle of Falluja. Terrified civilians stayed at home, nerves stretched by the crash of bombs.

As battles raged in Falluja, insurgents hit back elsewhere with bloody attacks in Baquba and other cities in which some 60 people have been killed since Monday night.

A thunderous explosion shook northern Falluja, witnesses said. Black smoke billowed from the scene. "There are heavy air strikes everywhere and heavy clashes in the Jolan district," one resident said.

Dozens die in clinic bombing

More than 20 medics were killed in the air raid and dozens others, including wounded people, were killed as a result of the US raid on the city early yesterday, local residents said.

The one-storey Community Clinic, which had been receiving wounded insurgents and civilians, was totally destroyed.

The building was one of the three Community Clinics erected in the city to substitute the main hospital, which was seized by US and Iraqi forces on Monday night, just hours before a full-scale offensive began.
 
Medics in the city told Xinhua their clinics were running out of medical supplies and the only ambulance they had was hit by US fire.

Residents said they had no power and used kerosene lamps at night. They kept to ground floors for safety.

Iraqi troops brought nine handcuffed prisoners to a railway station on the northern edge of the Jolan area where US and Iraqi forces are based. They said two of them were Egyptians and one was Syrian. The rest were Iraqis.

The interim Iraqi government and its US backers say foreign Muslim militants led by al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are holed up in Falluja along with Iraqi rebels.

The government says two Moroccans were among 38 people detained when Iraqi and US troops seized Falluja's main hospital in the early hours of Monday.

Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the resistance in Falluja was not very stiff, adding that the city might fall soon. "It will be over very soon... within days," he said during a visit to Cairo.

Party quits government

Also yesterday, a leading Sunni Muslim political party pulled out of Iraq's US-backed interim government in protest against the onslaught by American forces on Falluja.

"The Iraqi Islamic Party has decided to withdraw from the government in protest against the attack on Falluja that is harming the people," said Mohsen Abdul Hamid, senior party official and member of Iraq's provisional National Assembly.

In Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi imposed a night curfew for an indefinite period, a statement from his office said.

It said the curfew would be in force from 10:30PM to 4AM with immediate effect.

Rebels staged bloody attacks on police stations in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, police said. A mortuary official said 45 people were killed in attacks and clashes in and around the city. A group led by al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for attacks.

A suspected car bomb outside an Iraqi National Guard base near Kirkuk in the north killed three people and wounded two.

Falluja residents said a US air strike hit a clinic in a central district, killing some medical staff and patients. There was no independent confirmation.

Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at the main Falluja hospital who escaped arrest when it was taken, said the city was running out of medical supplies.

"There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit by US fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes whom we can not move. "A 13-year-old child just died in my hands," he said by telephone from a house where he had gone to help the wounded.

Doctors said at least 15 civilians were killed in Monday's fighting. There was no word on US casualties.

The offensive launched after dark on Monday was the second assault in seven months.

(China Daily November 10, 2004)