"In total, the raids have resulted in five people dead and 16 wounded," Dr Saleh Khamis al-Issawi told AFP from the hospital.

The US military said the aircraft hit a "safe" house in the north central part of the city belonging to a high-level Zarqawi associate and trumpeted it as a bold new offensive upsetting the months-long stalemate in Fallujah.

"Iraqis and elements of the First Marine Expeditionary Force increased security operations in and near Fallujah tonight in order to disrupt preparations for terrorist attacks by anti-Iraqi Forces," the military said.

"The status quo in certain cities in Iraq is unacceptable. This operation puts the anti-Iraqi Forces in Fallujah on notice."

Residents reported hearing loud explosions Thursday evening and the US marines said a second round of raids were carried out between 5:30 pmand 8:30 pm.

"Several illegal checkpoints and a weapons cache were destroyed earlier this evening during the most recent strikes today against the terrorist network," the military said.

As the strikes multiplied, a delegation of city elders and leaders pulled out from talks with the government, protesting against warnings by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi that the city would be invaded if it did not hand over Zarqawi and his supporters.

"We were taken aback by Allawi's comments... since there was no mention of Zarqawi during the talks," said one delegate, who gave his name as Abu Ahmed.

"Allawi and his government will bear the responsibility of the spilling of Muslim blood in Fallujah."

He said delegates were close to reaching a breakthrough in talks that would allow Iraqi forces to come back into the city before Allawi imposed "impossible conditions."

"Basically he was telling us that he did not want to negotiate, so we suspended the talks from our end," he said.

Allawi on Wednesday demanded that Fallujah turn over Zarqawi or face a military invasion as he sought to recover the city from the grip of militants ahead of national elections in January.

In Baghdad, the government's national security advisor Kassem Daoud said he hoped the delegates could mediate a truce and rid the city of foreign fighters to avert a military showdown.

"I hope they kick them out, otherwise we are preparing to crush them," he told reporters.

In initial reports of casualties from the daytime air strikes, which lasted from 1:05 pm until around 2:20 pm, doctors and residents said at least three people had been killed and eight wounded, while two houses, one of which was empty, were destroyed.

The strike in the Jubail area on the southwest side of Fallujah destroyed the home of Haraj Rashid, said his relative Amer Hamid adding that there were casualties under the rubble.

The US military confirmed the raids, saying that the targeted sites were strongholds of the suspected Al-Qaeda operative and that "reliable intelligence sources confirmed several Zarqawi terrorists were operating in the facilities at the time of the strike".

It said one target in southern Fallujah was a weapons storage site and the other, in Jolan, a "terrorist network safe house".

The military statement also said local informants had reported several uninjured individuals from one of the targeted locations had fled to the Fallujah General Hospital and some were "suspected of carrying weapons".

There was no independent confirmation. Several illegal checkpoints and a weapons cache were destroyed earlier this evening during the most recent strikes today against the terrorist network.

The US military carries out almost daily air raids on Fallujah, insisting they are "precision strikes". Doctors and residents in the town say the dead and wounded are often ordinary civilians, and include women and children.

US forces mounted a major operation in April to try to take the town but the assault ended in a stand off, with Fallujah transformed into a virtual no-go zone for American soldiers.

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