FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept 7 (AFP) - The rebel Iraqi city of Fallujah came under heavy artillery fire and air strikes late Tuesday, sending families fleeing, after US marine positions were shelled from inside the city.
Aircraft and artillery pounded the southern Shuhada district and industrial zone of Fallujah, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
Smoke shot up into the sky. The general hospital had received a undetermined number of casualties and panic swept the city, the reporter added..
The US military said the bombardment was in reprisal for a rebel attack.
"We are responding after being under fire. We are hitting enemy positions in the city since 6:30 pm (1430 GMT). We are using aircraft and artillery fire," said US Marine spokesman Lieutenant Colonel T.V. Johnson.
"The incident began ... when marines positions started taking fire from enemy positions inside the city."
Fallujah, which lies 50 kilomtres (30 miles) west of Baghdad, is a bastion of the Sunni Muslim insurgency against US-led forces in Iraq. A US air strike on a suspected militant safehouse in the city killed 20 people one week ago.
Seven US marines and three Iraqi national guardsmen were killed in a car bombing near Fallujah Monday, the worst single strike against the US military in months.
The US military has resorted to artillery and aerial assaults on alleged insurgent hideouts in Fallujah since the city became a no-go zone for troops after an April offensive ended with an agreement for Iraqis to police themselves.
Within weeks, Islamic militants imposed full control over Fallujah, elbowing aside the local police and an ad-hoc force of Iraqi army veterans, named the Fallujah Brigade, was formed to restore security.