US troops attacked in Falluja

US military presence has sparked protests in the town

Seven US soldiers have been wounded in a grenade attack on their headquarters in the tense Iraqi town of Falluja.

Six received moderate injuries and a seventh light injuries when two grenades were lobbed over a wall of the compound by two unidentified men at about 0100 on Thursday (2100 GMT Wednesday), an officer with the 82nd Airborne Division said.

Another officer, Captain Alan Vaught, described the attack, which also damaged two Humvee jeeps, as "an expression of the anger of a few people in the city after what happened" - a reference to the deaths of at least 15 Iraqis in clashes with US troops this week.

New anti-US protests began on Thursday morning with one placard, written in English, reading: "Sooner or later, US killers, we'll kick you out".

Falluja, about 50 kilometres (35 miles) west of Baghdad, is a predominantly Sunni Muslim town which was formerly a stronghold of Saddam Hussein's Baath party.

Resentment

US troops exchanged gunfire with Iraqis after Thursday's grenade attack but the attackers appear to have escaped.

Resentment is smouldering in the town at what is seen as a heavy-handed US military presence.

Town vents its anger at US

In pictures: Falluja clashes

Doctor Talib al-Janabi, head of a private hospital in Falluja, said Americans troops were "wandering inside and in between houses and in front of schools like cowboys".

US military spokesmen say troops were fired on first at both of this week's clashes with protesters.

On Wednesday morning, about 1,000 local people gathered at the US paratroopers' headquarters to hurl stones and shoes - a traditional Arab insult. Troops opened fire to disperse the crowd, and at least two people were shot dead

Late on Monday, paratroopers opened fire on a crowd of about 200 protesters, and at least 13 were killed. They had been protesting against the US military's occupation of a local primary school

Local Iraqis have told BBC correspondent Jennifer Glass that no gunmen were involved in the protests although they admitted that stones were thrown.

The kindest word they had to say about the Americans was that they looked "confused".

The paratroopers occupy a compound which used to serve as the local Baath headquarters.

After Monday's protest they reportedly withdrew from the primary school they were also using as a base.

Jamal Shaqir Mahmood, the imam at the Grand Falluja Mosque, said people wanted American troops to leave the town or at least reduce their numbers.