Clashes erupt in Baqouba Violence sweeps Sunni area; Fallujah fighting nears end

Marines found the mutilated body of a Western woman.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Explosions and gunfire broke out today in Baqouba -- the latest in a wave of clashes that has swept Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland even as U.S. and Iraqi forces move against the last remaining pockets of resistance in Fallujah.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's office confirmed today that two of his female relatives who were kidnapped last week have been released.
Allawi's cousin, Ghazi Allawi, 75, his cousin's wife and his cousin's pregnant daughter-in-law were abducted at gunpoint Tuesday in western Baghdad's Yarmouk neighborhood.
Explosions, gunfire
In Baqouba, witnesses said insurgents were fighting Iraqi police, and explosions and heavy gunfire were echoing through the streets.
The U.S. military said insurgents opened fire on Iraqi police from inside a mosque in Baqouba early today and police forces then stormed and cleared out the mosque. The U.S. command said a weapons cache, including rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, was uncovered inside.
Firefights also erupted just south of Baqouba in the town of Buhriz, as insurgents attacked some police stations and a nearby U.S. base, residents said. The two cities are about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Woman's body found
On Sunday, U.S. Marines found the mutilated body of a Western woman as they searched for militants still holding out in Fallujah. The woman could not be immediately identified.
Margaret Hassan, 59, director of CARE international in Iraq, and Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq, were abducted last month.
The week-old offensive in Fallujah, the city that came to symbolize resistance to the U.S.-led occupation, has left at least 38 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers dead.
The number of U.S. troops wounded is now 275, though more than 60 have returned to duty. U.S. officials estimated more than 1,200 insurgents have been killed.
U.S. forces resumed heavy airstrikes and artillery fire today, with warplanes making between 20-30 bombing sorties in Fallujah and surrounding areas. U.S. ground forces were trying to corner the remaining resistance in the city.
Bunker complex
American forces had attacked a bunker complex Sunday in the city's south, where they discovered a network of steel-reinforced tunnels and underground bunkers. The tunnels connected a ring of facilities filled with weapons, an anti-aircraft artillery gun, bunk beds and a truck, according to a statement from the U.S. military.
Civilians seeking medical care were told through loudspeakers and leaflets to contact U.S. troops. A second Iraqi Red Crescent convoy was expected to travel to Fallujah today with food and supplies.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the Marine general who designed the ground attack on Fallujah said that it had gone far more quickly than expected and that troops had fought their way across the city in just six days.
Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski described the ground war Sunday as a "flawless execution of the plan we drew up. We are actually ahead of schedule."
Escalated fighting
As fighting in Fallujah neared its conclusion, insurgent attacks escalated elsewhere in Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq.
Clashes between gunmen and Iraqi security forces early today south of Baghdad killed seven Iraqi police and national guardsmen and injured five others, police said.
Gunmen carried out near-simultaneous attacks on a police station and an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in Suwayrah, about 25 miles south of Baghdad, police said. Two from the police and five National Guardsmen were killed.
Before the clashes, National Guardsmen opened fire at a booby-trapped car approaching their headquarters, killing the driver. The car was loaded with 880 pounds of TNT.
In the insurgent-heavy city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital, heavy fighting erupted today between militants and U.S. forces, residents said.
Sunni clerics at several mosques called on residents to kick out bands of armed men who have come from outside the city, contending that the clashes inside Ramadi are having a negative impact on the economic situation of citizens.
The clerics also said that Ramadi residents want to send their children to schools and to have state offices reopened.
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