US Lieutenant General John Sattler said Thursday that US troops have succeeded in the flashpoint city of Fallujah. But more anti-US violence broke out throughout Iraq, causing heavy casualties and damage.

Sattler said his forces had "taken away this safe haven" for militants and "broken the back of the insurgency" in Fallujah 50 km west of Baghdad.

A US marine and an Iraqi soldier were killed by fighters holed up in the shattered city.

Sattler said some 1,200 militants have been killed and over 1,000 prisoners taken in Fallujah.

Up to 51 US troops and eight Iraqi soldiers have been killed since the start of the US-led offensive against Fallujah on Nov. 8,Sattler said. At least 425 US troops and 43 Iraqi servicemen have been wounded.

The US military said it launched the assault to help pave the way for the Iraqi general elections scheduled in January.

The Iraqi interim government also applauded the operation as a success and offered 100-US-dollar cash to each family in Fallujahand compensation for damage to houses and businesses there, claiming local residents are expected to return within days.

US troops hunting insurgents house-to-house found an apparent command center used by followers of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, reported a CNN group embedded with the US Army.

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has voiced his concern over the killing of an unarmed Iraqi in Fallujah by a US marine, a statement said.

Allawi "has discussed the matter with the commander of the multinational force in Iraq, General (George) Casey," the statement said.

The footage of the slaughter, which occurred in a mosque, has been broadcast worldwide and drawn much anti-US resentment.

An estimated 250,000 Iraqis have fled Fallujah and could want help in nearby villages and in Baghdad, said Astrid van Genderen Stort, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Amman, Jordan.

She said there were no independent figures on how many residents were killed in Fallujah, home to about 30,000 people.

More insurgence across Iraq

Militants on Thursday attacked the provincial governor's office in Iraq's third biggest city of Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad, killing one of the governor's bodyguards and wounding four, the US military said.

A total of 10 mortar rounds were launched at the office, setting ablaze a fuel tanker nearby, but Governor Duraid Kashmoulawas unhurt.

A US base in Mosul was also hit by mortars, but there were no casualties.

Four Iraqis, including two women, one man and one child, were killed Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded and destroyed a civilian car in Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, police said.

In the oil town of Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb apparently aimed at a US armed convoy killed two Iraqi civilians.

One Iraqi was killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

In Ramadi, a restive Sunni stronghold 110 km west of Baghdad, US troops clashed with heavily armed guerrillas in the streets for a second day, residents said.

The US and Iraqi forces arrested more than 100 suspected militants in a neighborhood in Baghdad, said Sabah Kadhim, spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry.

He said the searching operation was conducted in Haifa Street, a presumed stronghold for insurgents, which has witnessed intensive bombings and clashes in the past two months.

Among the 104 detainees, nine of whom Kadhim said had escaped from Fallujah, most were Iraqis. The others were from Syria and other Arab countries.

Source: Xinhua