As they did so, members of the Mahdi Army fired at them with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns.

The one Government-held road into town - a mountain track - is being fired at regularly with heavy machine guns and mortars.

The Australians were fired on with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades and pursued for four to five hours before the American airstrike was carried out.

For reasons that remain unclear today, the SS troops suddenly fired on their prisoners with machine guns.

The marines fired on them with machine guns and missiles, destroying both.

At that point, two men leaped from a nearby car and began to fire with machine guns, Mr. Mukhtar said.

Hong Kong news reports quoted other villagers as saying that 20 to 50 people had been killed and that the police had fired indiscriminately with machine guns.

As the Americans approached the area, roadside bombs struck their vehicles and militants opened fired with machine guns.

German troops fired on the students with machine guns, killing several.