Falluja pounded

US Cobra attack helicopters strafed Falluja8217;s palm-dotted Golan district after shelling and fierce exchange of gunfire broke out. A heavy AC-130 gunship 8212; first used in Vietnam 8212; blasted Golan overnight in the fiercest display of firepower yet.

The Marines stormed an area around a railway station and called in air strikes elsewhere after snipers fired on them, the US Military said.

Hospital staff said 10 local people had been wounded in the fighting. 8216;8216;This attack shows the frustration in the ranks of American soldiers in Iraq and the American political defeat,8217;8217; said Falluja resident Ali Abdullah. 8216;8216;We have uncovered the treachery and barbarity of the US Army.8217;8217;

However, US commanders said they were holding back from an all-out storming of the city of 300,000, in hopes of guerrillas agreeing to hand over their heavy weapons.

A fierce clash also occurred overnight in Khaldiya, west of Falluja, witnesses said and US troops were out in force in other towns in the so-called 8216;8216;Sunni triangle8217;8217; 8212; Saddam8217;s home region and stronghold. At least three soldiers of the US-led occupying force died of combat wounds on Wednesday in two incidents.

US forces could face an even more delicate dilemma in Najaf, where radical Shi8217;ite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, has taken refuge among the shrines with his several thousand strong Mehdi Army militia. US commanders near Najaf said an AC-130 attack on Monday, which they believed killed some 60 Shi8217;ite fighters, appeared to have demoralised Sadr8217;s supporters and was part of a strategy to persuade the cleric to give himself up. But Sadr8217;s forces vowed to resist any American incursions.

An aide to Sadr was quick to echo local accusations that many civilians died in Monday8217;s attack near Kufa, outside the city, the heaviest in a three-week standoff. Qais Al-Khazali said a US incursion into Najaf itself would 8216;8216;transform the situation into a Shi8217;ite Islamic confrontation with the Americans8217;8217;.

Cleric Hussam Al-Husseini warned against what he saw as a US attempt to cut off Kufa, base for many guerrillas, from Najaf.

US commanders say they will only attack mosques if they are used in combat. 8216;8216;Our goal is to continue to pressure Sadr to understand that we are not going away,8217;8217; said Colonel Brad May, commander of the 2nd Armoured Cavalry Regiment outside Najaf. 8212;Reuters