Bloodshed in US raids on Falluja

Doctors said civilians were among those killed and injured

Dozens of people have been killed in US air raids on the flashpoint towns of Falluja and Ramadi.

The US said up to 60 insurgents died in its "precision strikes" on bases of terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi but others said many civilians were killed. Renewed clashes between US-led forces and anti-government fighters also broke out in a troubled area of Baghdad.

Two powerful explosions were reported as US and Iraqi tanks sealed off part of Haifa Street amid gun battles.

The BBC's Mike Donkin in Baghdad says the first blast happened when suicide car bombers were shot at as they drove towards a checkpoint over the River Tigris and the second happened in a shopping street.

Ambulances rushed to the scene, and there are reports of heavy casualties.

The interior ministry says the new operation in Haifa Street - where a bomb on Tuesday killed nearly 50 people - was intended to root out militants.

Our correspondent says fighters have been using Haifa Street to mount rocket and mortar attacks on the nearby international zone.

He adds that another aim is to stop insurgents from other parts of Iraq moving in to consolidate resistance in the capital itself.

'Women and children'

In Falluja, the US military said it destroyed a building used to store weapons, and troops moved in to Ramadi to clear ammunition caches belonging to the Zarqawi-linked Daham group.

Missile strikes destroyed three buildings on a Zarqawi "meeting site" in the town of Qaryat ar Rufush, near Falluja, killing an estimated 60 "foreign fighters", said the US statement.

The health ministry said 44 people had been killed.

Hospital medics quoted by news agencies said many were civilians, including women and children.

In separate incidents, three US marines were killed by hostile fire while conducting security operations in the western Anbar province, the military confirmed.

One marine died at the scene, and the other two died later of their injuries.

Kidnappings

Meanwhile, the Australian authorities are making inquiries following the discovery of a body north of Baghdad.

The body, of a man said to have blonde hair and western features, was pulled from the Tigris River near the central Iraqi village of Yethrib.

FOREIGNERS KIDNAPPED More than 100 foreigners seized (including two Italian aid workers, pictured) 19 being held 25 killed, including (12 Nepalese) At least 3 Americans seized: Nick Berg - civilian - beheaded; Keith Maupin - soldier - killed (unconfirmed); Thomas Hamill -civilian - escaped One Briton kidnapped: James Brandon - journalist - released Hostage facts Iraq's hostage-takers

A spokesman for Australia's foreign minister said they were trying to determine if the victim was one of two Australian security guards whom militants claim to have taken hostage.

It comes a day after a Briton and two US nationals were abducted from a house in Baghdad's Mansour neighbourhood.

The US embassy in Iraq named the two Americans as Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong. The British embassy did not release details of the Briton.

Fighters waging a 17-month insurgency in Iraq have abducted more than 100 foreigners in a bid to destabilise the interim government and drive foreign troops from the country.

The latest kidnappings brings the number currently being held to 19.

Two female Italian aid workers were taken last week, and two French journalists were seized on 20 August.

Militants who take foreigners have usually demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.

Meanwhile, virtually unreported by the international media, the kidnapping of Iraqis for ransom has become commonplace, particularly in Baghdad.