US aircraft and artillery strikes pounded suspected weapons warehouses in the insurgent bastion of Fallujah overnight leaving seven people dead and three others wounded, hospital officials said.
A doctor at the Fallujah general hospital said most victims had been evacuated from the Shuhada district.
The attacks came as hundreds of British troops prepared to move closer to Baghdad to help the US battle rebel strongholds
The US army earlier said that two raids were carried out in the area late last night.
A US army spokesman said marines carried out new air raids and opened artillery fire at arms caches in the southeast of the city.
The marines said they were eliminating weapons warehouses in the area, considered a hub for suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
Fallujah has seen almost daily strikes on houses the US says are suspected safe houses used by Zarqawi, blamed for many of the car bombings and kidnappings in Iraq.
Determined to regain control of the no-go zone, more than 1,000 joint forces have encircled the city for the last week. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi last week ordered Fallujah residents to surrender Zarqawi or face invasion.
Mr Allawi yesterday narrowly escaped a mortar attack while on a trip to Mosul, in the north of the country.
Iraqi officials have expressed concern about a lack of experts on the ground to help prepare for landmark elections set for January because of security fears.
AFP