BAGHDAD, October 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The renewed American bombardment of Fallujah overnight claimed three Iraqi lives, few hours after the US army confirmed the killing of six soldiers in different incidents across Iraq.

Late Saturday, October 16, US warplanes struck the districts of Jolan and Askari in Fallujah, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, killing at least three people.

"We have received three dead", Dr Ali Hayad told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

A US army statement claimed the raid targeted "an armed Al-Zarqawi terrorist checkpoint in the Jolan district" around 10:45 pm, in reference to Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, blamed for some of the deadliest attacks since last year's US-led invasion of the country.

"The terrorists operating this illegal checkpoint were heavily armed and were using the blockade to disrupt traffic, intimidate and harass local citizens, and interrogate and detain local civilians," the statement said.

"The checkpoint (...) was considered key to the Zarqawi networks ability to control movement into and out of the city."

More than 1,000 American and Iraqi troops sealed off Fallujah for a third straight day in their alleged hysterical hunt for Al-Zarqawi.

A US military spokesman declined to say if marines would enter the city.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul Hamid Jadu indicated that a delegation from the city was ready to return to the negotiation table with the government, but conditioned this on a halt to almost daily US air strikes and the release of fellow negotiator Sheikh Khaled Hamoud.

The team severed dialogue with the Iraqi government Thursday, October 14, amid an escalation of the air strikes and a threat by Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi that Fallujah must surrender Zarqawi or face invasion.

In a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net, they threatened to declare holy war across Iraq if the US occupation forces continue the onslaught.

Hours earlier, two American reconnaissance helicopters crashed in southwest Baghdad killing two soldiers and wounding two others, said a US army statement.

US army officials declined to elaborate on whether the aircraft had been shot down, saying the incident was being investigated.

This came shortly after four American troops were killed in a series of bombings in various parts of the occupied country.

The US military said three soldiers, a marine and a civilian translator were killed and one soldier wounded in two car bombings, one in the northern city of Mosul and another near the city of Qaim on Iraq's border with Syria.

Another American soldier was injured on Saturday when a car bomb exploded next to a US tank in the restive western province of Al-Anbar in a town between Fallujah and Ramadi, a US marines spokesman said.