US warplanes and artillery pounded the Iraqi flashpoint city of fallujah overnight, killing seven people and wounding six others, witnesses and hospital sources said on Friday.

"Seven bodies were brought to the hospital and six wounded, and most of them were brought from Shuhadaa district," Dr. Saleh Hussein al-Issawi from Fallujah General Hospital told Xinhua.

Late Thursday, US aircrafts carried out strikes on

Shuhadaa district south of the city as fierce clashes burst out between the US forces and insurgents in the industrial area southeast of the city, Xinhua correspondent in Fallujah reported. Five houses were also destroyed in the air strikes on Shuhadaa neighborhood.

"Insurgents in southeast of the city fired on US Marine's positions with small arms, rocket propelled grenades and mortars, destroying a tank and two Humvees," said residents.

    US forces have been targeting Fallujah for weeks in a bid to root out foreign fighters including Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who they claimed was hiding in the city.

    Iraq's US-backed interim government warned that it would launch a major offensive in Fallujah if the city did not hand over Zarqawi and his followers.

Source: Xinhua