U.S. planes pound Fallujah with bombs

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FALLUJAH, Iraq -- U.S. warplanes hammered Fallujah with 500-pound laser-guided bombs yesterday as Marines battled insurgents near a train station and in neighborhoods that had seemed to be quieting.

Several families fled the city during breaks in the fighting, in which U.S. warplanes dropped 10 laser-guided bombs -- most of them weighing 500 pounds, but at least one weighing 1,000 pounds -- on buildings that were the source of guerrilla fire.

At least twice, AC-130 gunships opened up on insurgent positions with heavy cannons.

The violence, captured live on television with images of fiery destruction, came as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the United States to avoid a revival of the bloodshed seen in the city west of Baghdad during the first two weeks of the month.

"Violent military action by an occupying power against inhabitants of an occupied country will only make matters worse," Mr. Annan said. "It's definitely time, time now for those who prefer restraint and dialogue to make their voices heard."

But President Bush said U.S. troops will use whatever force is needed to quell the uprising in the city.

"Our military commanders will take whatever action is necessary to secure Fallujah on behalf of the Iraqi people," he said in the Oval Office. "We will deal with those who want to stop the march to freedom, and that's exactly what's happening in Fallujah."

Commanders in Iraq said the Marines were responding to guerrilla attacks and that the military was sticking to a more than 2-week-old halt in offensive operations to allow negotiations." Even though it may not look like it, there is still a determined aspiration on the part of the coalition to maintain a cease-fire and solve the situation in Fallujah by peaceful means," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said in the capital, Baghdad.

"What's going on are some terrorists and regime elements have been attacking our forces, and our forces have been going out and killing them," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told lawmakers in Washington.

However, the escalating violence was blamed for a 135-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday.