Falluja victims, 56 killed, 40 injured

At least 13 Iraqis were killed and other 50 injured most of them are members of the Iraqi police in a booby trapped car explosion that targeted a main inspection point for the Iraqi police at al-Rasheed street in the downtown of Baghdad.

A spokesman for the interim Iraqi government said that the car which was driven by a "suicider" collided with a line of police cars which was cordoning the adjoining Haifa street where clashes were renewed in the early hours yesterday between Iraqi gunmen and American forces.

The clashes came on the background of a campaign of breaking in and inspection launched by a joint force from the national guards and the American forces on Thursday evening.

In Falluja to the west of Baghdad, total number of Iraqis killed in the American raid against the city yesterday increased to 56 persons including several women and children.

Iraqi medical sources said that the raid which targeted al-Bushinter village in the city resulted in injuring 40 persons.

However; a statement by the American army said that the raid targeted a position where 90 foreign fighters are fortified, supporters for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and that the raid resulted in killing 60 fighters.

The new bombardment came after the killing of three US marines in different attacks in al-Anbar governorate. The US defense department announced before confirming the killing of the three soldiers that the number of US soldiers killed so far in Iraq since its occupation is 1027.