NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 12 -- Insurgents in trenches met advancing U.S. and Iraqi forces in southern Fallujah with a burst of bullets and rockets Friday in what commanders described as one of the fiercest days of fighting since the battle to retake the city began five days ago.
Marines and soldiers said they encountered guerrillas dug into traditional defensive positions from which they could pop up, shoot and quickly take cover. The Americans said they and their Iraqi allies fought back with rifles, automatic weapons, belt-fed machine guns, mortars and hand grenades.
"It was a hornet's nest," said Capt. Erik Krivda, of Gaithersburg, the officer in charge of the Army's 1st Infantry Division Task Force 2-2 tactical operations command center.
Military officials also reported that fighting had resumed Thursday night in Fallujah's Jolan neighborhood, an insurgent stronghold in the city's northwest. Elsewhere in Iraq, intense fighting continued for a third day in the northern city of Mosul and other flash points in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland.
Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the Marine commander in Iraq, said 22 U.S. troops have been killed and more than 170 seriously wounded in and around Fallujah since the offensive began Monday night. An additional 40 troops suffered wounds but were able to return to duty, he said.
In addition, Sattler said, five members of the Iraqi security forces have been killed and 40 wounded.
At a Marine outpost near the city, a steady stream of ambulances carried casualties to a naval field hospital where troops lay on stretchers, their wounds covered by white gauze.
Since moving into Fallujah on Monday, U.S. forces have largely gained control of the city's northern half while driving insurgents south. The U.S. military said it now controls about 80 percent of the city.
Sattler said Friday that U.S. and Iraqi forces had broken the insurgents' "back and spirit. The goal right now is to continue to keep the heat on them. The concern now is to take care of this fight, reestablish the rule of law and return the town to the Fallujah people."
Commanders had warned, however, that insurgents might try to make a last stand in southwestern districts.
By midmorning, after reportedly taking heavy casualties, the units trying to capture the area called in artillery and air support, unleashing a barrage of shells and bombs that engulfed the southern neighborhood in flames and smoke. Witnesses reported another big battle in central Fallujah at the Rawtha Mohammediya mosque, which had served as the insurgents' headquarters but is now controlled by the Marines. About 200 to 300 fighters came from southern neighborhoods to stage the assault, but it ended after two hours with their suffering heavy losses, according to witnesses.
Insurgents had returned late Thursday to the Jolan neighborhood, where they engaged Marines for more than six hours, long enough to gather for Friday prayers in its Maathid mosque.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have detained 450 suspected insurgents. Thaer Hasen Naqib, spokesman for interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, said they included men from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
"It really doesn't matter from which group they are," Naqib said during a news conference at a military outpost near Fallujah. "They are foreigners. They are not invited to come to Iraq. We want to get rid of them as soon as possible."
