US forces storm Fallujah

US forces stormed into the outskirts of Fallujah today, seizing control of two strategically important bridges and a hospital.

All three sites are near the insurgent stronghold in the city's Jolan district. Between 10,000 and 15,000 American soldiers are to be involved in the attack on Fallujah in an attempt to wipe out a force of up to 6,000 Iraqi insurgents.

With reports of "major action" under way and government attempts to negotiate with the rebels stalled, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is expected to give his official backing to the attack imminently.

The 60-day state of emergency, declared by Mr Allawi last night, gives the authorities broad powers to impose curfews, order house-to-house searches and detain suspected criminals and insurgents.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr Allawi said Fallujah residents "have been taken hostage by a bunch of terrorists and bandits and insurgents who were part of the old regime. They had been involved in atrocities when Saddam was around. Our government is determined

to safeguard the Iraqi people. The window is closing, absolutely."

A statement from the US military would only confirm troops were "finishing final preparations for an assault on Fallujah".

Heavy artillery barrages were backed by fire from AC-130 Spectre gunships and helicopter attacks as US troops began their advance under the cover of darkness to the west and south of Fallujah, just across the Euphrates.

After two hours of steady pounding by American guns, tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and AC-130 gunships, American Special Forces and the Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion took control of Fallujah General Hospital.

Tracer fire and flares lit up the sky as the operation began, helicopters criss-crossed the battlefield and at least one American vehicle was fired on with a rocket-propelled grenade.

The troops detained 50 men of military age inside the hospital but later released about half of them.

A Pentagon spokesman said the hospital was seized "to ensure that there was a medical treatment facility available to the population as well as making sure the insurgents could not continue to exaggerate casualties".

Rebel fighters responded to the attack and US forces began exchanging fire across the Euphrates as the bridge near the hospital and a second strategic bridge, slightly to the south, were secured.

"There has been extensive gunfire going across the river," said the American commander of the Special Forces operation at the hospital. "Bradleys have been shooting over to the east of us, and there has been extensive machinegun fire to the southwest-of us." As the bridges fell under US control, the first of several thousand marines in tanks, Humvees and armoured personnel carriers started moving towards Fallujah's northern outskirts.

Most civilians in Fallujah, a city of about 250,000 people 35 miles west of Baghdad, were believed to have left by the time the invasion began.

As the battle raged, rebels continued a second day of multiple attacks across the Sunni triangle north and west of Baghdad, storming police stations, killing government officials and setting off car bombs.