US warplanes and ground forces have pounded targets in Iraq in the third day of operations to root out guerrillas and destroy their hideouts, amid rising casualties among occupation forces.
The US Central Command said one soldier was killed when a convoy he was traveling in struck an improvised explosive device yesterday. Two other soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on Thursday.
Despite the mounting death toll, US President George W Bush vowed troops would stay until they had defeated insurgents seven months after Saddam Hussein's fall.
A spokesman for the 1st Armored Division said US forces hit five targets around Baghdad with mortar fire in the third successive night of "Operation Iron Hammer".
"These are locations the enemy has used to fire on us. Today we are firing first," he said.
Witnesses reported several explosions around the airport, in the southwest of the city, as planes and helicopters flew overhead. Later in the evening, a succession of blasts echoed from northwest Baghdad.
The tougher tactics follow mortar and rocket attacks on the headquarters of the US-led administration in Baghdad and a bloody few weeks in Iraq in which 16 Italian soldiers and dozens of American troops have been killed.