FALLUJAH, IRAQ, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Seven Iraqis were killed andten others wounded in the on-going fierce clashes that broke outSunday morning between US-Iraqi forces and fighters who defend thecity, local medics told Xinhua.

   "We received seven bodies and ten wounded people treated in thehospital," said Saleh al-Issawi, a doctor of the Fallujah GeneralHospital.

   Direct fighting between fighters and US troops continued Sundayafternoon as US tanks and artillery pounded fighters' positions onal-Askari neighborhood, on the northeastern edge of the besiegedcity, according to Xinhua correspondent at the scene.   The fighters fired back with mortar rounds and rocket-propelledgrenades as US planes flew overhead.

   Local residents confirmed that they saw two US tanks caught firejust outside the al-Askari neighborhood where they saw a destroyedHumvee in the morning.

   The city is almost deserted after most families have fled tosafer resorts.

   Overnight, the US warplanes mounted air strikes on the city,killing three people and wounding four others, including a girl,Fallujah General Hospital said.

   The air raids targeted Golan and al-Askari districts in thecity, destroying four houses and damaging several surrounding ones.   Iraq's US-backed interim government has warned that it willlaunch a major offensive in Fallujah if the city does not hand overJordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers.   Fallujah representatives and some residents in the city say theyhave seen no evidence that Zarqawi is holed up there.   US Marines besieged the city in April in an all-out operationagainst rebels, many of whom were said to be foreign fighters, andonly pulled out after hundreds of civilians were killed in themonth-long warfare.  Enditem