US warplanes, tanks and artillery units have bombed the Iraqi town of Falluja, killing at least eight people and wounding 15. The pounding of the city began overnight and continued into the early hours of Saturday, hospital officials told Aljazeera. Dr Dhiya al-Jumaili of Falluja General Hospital said at least eight people were killed and 15 wounded, including women and children. Explosions lit up the night sky for hours and at least two buildings in the city centre were completely wrecked, witnesses said. The Falluja mosque switched on its loudspeakers and clerics recited prayers to rally the city's residents. The US military said it had carried out a "precision strike" on a building where supporters loyal to "al-Qaida-linked" Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were believed to be meeting. Reuters quotes the US military as saying: "There were no innocent civilians reported in the immediate area at the time of the strike. Multinational forces took multiple measures to minimise collateral damage and civilian casualties." **Survivors*** Reuters Television pictures showed rescuers pulling survivors out of the ruins of a destroyed house. Two women and one young child were among those rescued from the rubble. Aljazeera reports that a US military spokesman said the artillery shelling targeted armed men driving in a car transporting military hardware. The car, however, was not damaged. American forces also bombed a series of fortifications late on Friday, including concrete and earthen barriers and roadblocks, used to restrict movement in the city and mount attacks on marine positions outside Falluja, the military said in a separate statement on Saturday. Saturday's strikes were the latest in a string of attacks against the city that had left scores dead and injured. **Police, soldiers killed*** Meanwhile, five volunteer members of the Iraqi National Guard were killed and a number of people were injured when a gunman opened fire on a bus in al-Rabie street in Baghdad, medical sources told Aljazeera. The sources noted that the volunteers were in civilian uniforms when the attack occurred. Three US marines were killed in action in Iraq on Friday in two unrelated attacks west of Baghdad, the American military said on Saturday. US marines are based in the Anbar province, which includes the towns of Falluja and Ramadi. Another US soldier was killed in Baghdad after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, the US military said. **Basra blast*** In Basra a roadside bomb was detonated after a British military patrol passed through the al-Qibla neighbourhood, east of the southern Iraqi port of Basra, a British spokesman told Aljazeera. There were no injuries or damage, but British forces closed the area and searched for other explosive devices. Meanwhile in Baquba, north east Baghdad, an Iraqi police officer was killed and another seriously wounded when they came under fire, Aljazeera has learnt. **US convoy attacked*** In a separate development, a roadside bomb explosion destroyed a US Hummer vehicle in Baquba. The fate of the US soldiers riding the vehicle, which was part of a military convoy is still unknown. Also on Saturday, the Iraqi Oil Ministry building in Baghdad was hit by one rocket and three mortar rounds, but no human losses were reported, official sources said. One of the employees said the attack caused minor damage, but no injuries. At least three more rounds fell on a residential district on Palestine Street. Meanwhile, the headquarters of the National Conciliation Movement led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, in the al-Hilla city, south of Baghdad was hit by a mortar round when the Consul of the US Consulate in al-Hilla, Burns Blaski was inside the building, Iraqi police sources told Aljazeera. The sources said the attack caused no damage or injuries. Also, two employees working at the office of Abd Al-Aziz Al-Hakim, head of the Higher Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, were killed in Baghdad when unknown gunmen opened fire while they were travelling from Najaf to Baghdad, a source at the office told Aljazeera. **PHOTO CAPTION*** An Iraqi man rushes his wounded son to a nearby ambulance in Fallujah. (AFP)