Fallouja Battle Kills 20 Iraqis

BAGHDAD â€”  Marines battled insurgents for hours in the volatile city of Fallouja, killing 20 Iraqis and wounding 14 others in a series of gunfights, mortar barrages and airstrikes, military officials said Friday.

Many of those wounded, including at least one child, appeared to be civilians injured by U.S. airstrikes, Iraqi hospital officials said. The U.S. military said insurgents started the fighting Thursday night by ambushing a patrol and then fleeing into buildings to continue the battle.

The Marines said they suffered no casualties.

In Baghdad late Friday, an explosion shook buildings in a downtown area with many hotels used by foreigners. The source of the blast was not immediately clear, and the U.S. military said there was no word on casualties.

Iraq has been beset by surging violence, including a wave of kidnappings and a devastating car bombing Wednesday in Baqubah that killed at least 70 people.

Interim President Ghazi Ajil Yawer said the violence was a sign that militants were growing desperate.

“I think the bad guys, the enemy, the army of the darkness, is getting more helpless and hopeless. That is why they are stepping up these things. Time and the place is on our side,� Yawer said.

Meanwhile, a deadline set by militants threatening to execute a captive truck driver passed, but there was no word on whether they had carried out the killing. The militants, who were holding seven people from India, Kenya and Egypt, had demanded that the hostages’ Kuwait-based transportation company get out of Iraq.

In Fallouja, Marines and Iraqi troops engaged in an hours-long battle with insurgents that spilled into an industrial area of the city. Witnesses reported hearing aircraft on bombing runs and dozens of mortar rounds fired toward a nearby American base.