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US Marines was in combat with Iraqi forces on the southern outskirts of Tikrit on Sunday, a Canadian journalist told CNN.
Matthew Fisher, of Canada's National Post newspaper, said "a significant attack" was underway in the hometown of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The US forces had employed tanks, assault helicopters and fighter planes in the firefights, while five Iraqi tanks had been destroyed, Fisher told CNN in a telephone call.
"Iraqi infantry came out of their holes to fight the Marines in their light armored vehicles. About 15 Iraqis died in that exchange, no Americans," he said.
Fisher said the US forces had been told to get prepared for fighting with remnants of the Iraqi Republican Guard and the Fedayeen fighters in Tikrit.
"They've all been told that it appears that there's a core of about 2,500 Iraqis who are willing to fight in the town," he said.
Tikrit, about 180 km north of Baghdad, was widely regarded as the last stronghold of the Iraqi leader.
(Xinhua News Agency, April 13, 2003)
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