BAGHDAD, 6 October 2004 — US warplanes pounded the vast Baghdad slum of Sadr City overnight after an American patrol came under gunfire, the military said yesterday. In the Sunni triangle city of Ramadi, a car bomb explosion was followed by clashes between US troops and insurgents.

The violence comes as US and Iraqi forces step up efforts to suppress an array of insurgent groups ahead of elections slated for January.

“I believe that from now on, we will carry out strong, sweeping operations,” Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told the National Council. “Clearing operations have started already but their tempo will be escalated in other areas as well.”

Two dead bodies and four wounded Iraqis were seen at the scene of the clashes in the largely industrial Al-Ziyout area of Ramadi, a rebel stronghold 113 kilometers west of Baghdad.

US troops and rebels exchanged gunfire following an explosion which police Capt. Nassir Hassan said was a car bomb. The Ramadi General Hospital confirmed two people were killed and four injured in the fighting. The military had no information on the clashes.

Later, a homemade bomb exploded as a US military convoy was passing through the city, injuring one soldier and seven Iraqi civilians, said Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert.

Four Iraqis driving near the convoy were killed in the blast said Dr. Diaa Al-Haity at Ramadi General Hospital, which treated two of the wounded. But Gilbert had no reports of civilians killed. A mangled vehicle could be seen near the bomb crater. The attack occurred near the grand mosque in the eastern section of the city.

US and Iraqi authorities have indicated that Ramadi is one of three strongholds of resistance that need to be swept clear of rebels in order for January elections to take place throughout the country. The nearby city of Fallujah, held by Sunni militants, and the Shiite-dominated Sadr City section of Baghdad are also believed to be on the target list.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was in northern Iraq yesterday for meetings with Kurdish leaders, the Foreign Office said in London. A spokesman said Straw would spend “a few days” in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Arbil, with talks focusing on reconstruction and plans for the Iraqi elections.

In other violence yesterday, a car bomb exploded as the Iraqi National Guard was conducting raids in the central Iraqi city of Youssifiyah, said police Lt. Abbas Shechati. One civilian bystander was killed and four wounded in the blast.