US troops fought Sunni insurgents in Falluja today and stood ready to strike at a rebel cleric in Najaf, one of Iraq's holiest Shia cities.
A hospital official said 15 people were killed and 20 wounded in overnight clashes that erupted in Falluja just hours after the top US general said truce talks could not go on for ever and more military action might be necessary.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers said Iraq's US administrator, Mr Paul Bremer, was using "multiple channels" in talks to pacify Falluja and avoid fighting in Najaf, where militiamen loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr control the city centre.
Polish officers commanding international troops in the Najaf region were unhappy at the prospect of an assault on the holy city by 2,500 US troops poised outside, Polish media said.
Sadr, who is in Najaf, said Iraqis would hit back with unimaginable "force and severity" if US forces carried out their threat to kill or capture him.
"Their threats to kill or detain me are a result of their weakness and collapse in the face of what has happened, and is happening, in Iraq," he told Lebanon's as-Safirnewspaper.
American warplanes attacked targets in Falluja and a US armoured vehicle was destroyed in the fighting, witnesses said.
US Marines began their assault on the city west of Baghdad on April 5th after the killing and mutilation of four US private security guards there the previous week. Doctors say more than 600 Iraqis have died in fighting in Falluja since.
A week ago, the US military said it had suspended offensive operations in Falluja but would hit back if attacked. Talks to stabilise a shaky truce have led to relative calm interspersed with intense bouts of fighting and air strikes.
In the holy city of Kerbala, where Sadr's folowers have also taken control, three Iraqi policeman were killed in clashes with Shia militiamen today, witnesses said.
Elsewhere, eight Iraqis were killed and 17 wounded when mortars fired by anti-occupation insurgents
missed their targets in the northern city of Mosul. US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said one mortar was aimed at a US base in Mosul and another at a police station.
He gave no other details.