The US military confirmed on Wednesday that 11 US soldiers and two Iraqis have been killed so far after the Americans launched a military offensive against Fallujah.

"Reports from field commanders confirmed that in the third day of operations, multinational and Iraqi forces had suffered 11 multinational and two Iraqi casualties since fighting began to retake the city," said in a US military statement.

In addition, nine Iraqi soldiers were wounded, according to the statement, without giving figures of the injured US soldiers.

There was no information on the exact number of insurgents killed in Fallujah since the US Marines backed by Iraqi forces kicked off the all-out assault on Fallujah on Monday night.

The latest deaths brought to over 1,140 the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion last March.

Fallujah, some 50 km north of Baghdad, lies in the Sunni Muslim heartland in central Iraq.

The US military and the Iraqi interim government vowed to retake the key rebel stronghold to pave way for the general elections slated for January.

(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2004)