Fierce street battles are raging in Falluja between resistance fighters defending the town and US occupation forces.

Hospital sources said at least 52 Iraqis were killed and 90 injured in attacks on the besieged town on Wednesday, including 40 people inside the Abd al-Aziz al-Samari mosque.

Among the casualties were a family sitting in a car parked behind the mosque.

American forces said those killed were fighters taking refuge in the mosque. A US marine was also shot dead near the mosque by the fighters.

Over 53 Iraqis died in attacks overnight on the town which was sealed off on Sunday by US forces.Twenty-five of those killed were from one family.

"More than 200 Iraqis, including women and children, were injured in the past 24 hours," said Aljazeera correspondent in Falluja, Ahmad Mansur.

The correspondent said F16 jet fighters bombarded the eastern side of the town. He quoted witnesses as saying that a US helicopter was shot down and a tank set on fire.

'Getting worse'

"The situation is getting worse," he said. "An ambulance carrying casualties was attacked on its way to the medical centre. The American forces closed the road leading to the city's hospital and everybody walking in the streets of Falluja is now becoming a target."

The US forces have evacuated factories in the industrial area and asked workers not to come back for a day or two, he said.

The American troops are still in the outside section of Falluja and they have not reached the centre of the city yet."

Earlier, speaking live from a rooftop, the correspondent said the town's hospital was struggling to cope with the rising casualties.

"They are attacking residential neighbourhoods," he said as US warplanes swooped over the area and fired rockets. Intense gunfire could be heard from the streets.

"The residents of Falluja are asking where is the (US-appointed) Iraqi Governing Council," said the visibily shaken correspondent. "They are asking why the Iraqis are not protecting them."

Plea for help

"Residents of Falluja call on the Arab world to intervene and lift the siege on this town of 300,000. They ask where are the Arab leaders in this time?" he said before throwing himself to the ground as a plane flew overhead.

Falluja has come under fierce US attack in the past three days as occupation forces sealed off the town, a centre for anti-occupation activity, in an effort to crush the resistance.

US marines tried for a third time to take control of the town but were forced to retreat.

The Aljazeera crew, including cameramen Layf Muftaq and Hasan Walid, sound engineer Sayf al-Din and correspondent Hamid Hadid, are the only media personnel inside the town.

US forces besieged the town after last week's ambush in which four security guards were killed and their bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets by Iraqi mobs.