BAGHDAD, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Fierce clashes continued Thursday between insurgents and US-Iraqi troops in the flashpoint city of Ramadi, witnesses said.

    Fightings broke out in the morning in Malaab Street in Ramadi and US warplanes intensified flying over the city before they conducted a major offensive against it, the witnesses said.

    A Xinhua correspondent failed to enter Ramadi as the US forces cut the highway linking Baghdad and Amman, capital of Jordan.

   Ramadi, 100 km west of Baghdad, was another insurgents' bastion other than the flashpoint city of Fallujah in Anbar province. It remained on the top list of restive cities to be retaken before Iraq's national elections due in January.

   Earlier, the US military said in a statement that US forces conducted coordinated attacks in and around the Fallujah-Ramadi area, destroying several "barricaded fighting positions" last night. Enditem