Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    FALLUJAH, Iraq, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Seven people, including an Iraqi soldier, were killed in two insurgent attacks in the volatile Anbar province on Saturday while insurgents fought U.S. troops in a town market, police and witnesses said.

    A roadside bomb went off at about 10:15 a.m. (0715 GMT) near a passing Iraqi army patrol in the Ezerjiyah village outside Fallujah City," a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The blast damaged an Iraqi Humvee and killed a soldier and wounding three others aboard, the source said.

    Separately, unknown gunmen riding two cars opened fire on civilians in Garma town, some 10 km east of Fallujah, killing six people, including two children, the source added.

    Further to the west, fierce clashes broke out Saturday morning when insurgents attacked U.S. forces in a restive town in Anbar province in western Iraq, local witnesses said.

    "U.S. troops raided a market area in the Haqlaniyah town, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad, at about 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT), but were attacked by dozens of gunmen," witnesses told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The gunmen with machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades cordoned off the U.S. troops at the market area, prompting afierce fight lasted more than an hour, they said. Explosions and gunfire shocked the town while thick smoke rose above the area, they added.

    It was not known whether there were casualties among both sides as the witnesses fled the scene, they said.

    The U.S. military did not confirm the incident.

    Iraq's vast Anbar province, including insurgent cities of Ramadi, Fallujah and Haqlaniyah, has long been a bastion of insurgency against the foreign forces in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.