FALLUJAH, May 27: Two US soldiers were killed and another nine wounded on Tuesday in an ambush in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, a stronghold of former president Saddam Hussein’s supporters.

Two of the attackers were also killed after US troops came under fire from an unknown number of guerillas with rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and small arms, US Central Command (Centcom) said.

Witnesses said RPG fire also brought down a US helicopter, while Centcom said the chopper was struck by an armoured vehicle as it was trying to get into firing position.

Centcom alleged that the guerillas fired on US troops from a nearby mosque and said, if confirmed, it would be “a violation of the law of war”.

Tension in Fallujah has been on the boil since last month, when US troops shot dead at least 16 anti-US protesters in the city, 50kms west of Baghdad.

Tuesday’s was the third deadly attack on US occupying forces in Iraq in just 24 hours, as Iraqi resistance appears to be tightening seven weeks after Saddam Hussein was ousted from power.

Kassim Abdullah, a night guard at Fallujah general hospital, said a US helicopter trying to rescue the wounded after the attack was brought down by RPG fire and landed on top of a US tank or armoured fighting vehicle.

Centcom said that after the attack, the army unit responded “decisively with concentrated fire”.

Other witnesses said the bodies of the dead attackers were left in the street for hours after US troops blocked off the main roads until the morning, when local residents came to collect them.

The Pentagon-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC), a former opposition group now playing a lead role under US aegis in planning for a new Iraqi government, said the attacks were the work of diehard members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.—AFP