| U.S. Marines battled insurgents in Fallujah on Thursday, with warplanes dropping bombs and tanks shelling suspected guerrilla positions in the heaviest fighting in weeks, erupting as the first residents returned to the devastated city. At least three Marines were killed in the area, the military said. Fallujans lined up in cars and on foot at checkpoints, brandishing documents to Iraqi police to show they had the right to re-enter the city. Once inside, they returned to the remains of bombed-out and looted homes, some with bodies still inside from weeks of fighting. The return of residents is a key part of U.S.-Iraqi efforts to rebuild Fallujah after the bloody, two-week U.S. military offensive in November that wrested the city from the control of insurgents. Most of Fallujah's approximately 250,000 people fled before the assault. |