Most of Fallujah under the US control

The US and Iraqi forces keep under the control most of &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/93/375/14572_iraq.html ' target=_blank>Fallujah, the assault of which has gone quicker than expected. Now US troops are focusing their attention on other trouble spots of Iraq, as new fighting is being reported elsewhere across the country.

The military said 31 Americans and six &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/diplomatic/2003/03/21/44821.html ' target=_blank>Iraqi soldiers have been killed during the Fallujah assault. Earlier, U.S. commanders said more than 1,200 guerrillas have been killed since the siege began Monday.

U.S. troops from Task Force 2-2 of the 1st Infantry Division discovered an immense series of underground bunkers linked by tunnels that insurgents stocked with medical supplies, a CNN correspondent embedded with the unit reported. Warplanes dropped four 2,000-pound bombs on the bunker network, as Boston Globe informed.

In the meantime, relief workers near Fallujah say they are ready to start providing much needed water, food, medicines and other supplies to the thousands of residents in Fallujah displaced by the battle. For six days there has been no electricity or running water in the city. Even so, senior officials with Iraq's Health Ministry say reports of a possible humanitarian crisis in Fallujah are groundless. Saturday, officials with Iraqs &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/cis/2002/10/01/37531.html ' target=_blank>Red Crescent said a disaster was unfolding in Fallujah, says Voice of America.

According to the ABC News, in the south of the city, where insurgents regrouped over the weekend, the butchered body of a blonde-haired Caucasian woman was found lying on a street.

"It is a female, missing all four appendages, with a slashed throat and disembowelled, she has been dead for a while but only in this location for a day or two," said a Navy Corps hospital apprentice.

Two foreign women have been abducted in Iraq and remain missing: Teresa Borcz, 54, a Pole, has blonde hair and British aid worker Margaret Hassan, 59, has chestnut-coloured hair.