Rebels return to 'cleared' areas

General Sattler says that at least 1,200 insurgents had been killed in the city. The amount of weaponry found so far in Fallujah confirms to marines that the city had been the nationwide hub of the Iraq's insurgency.

Catalogued so far, US intelligence officers say, are more than 4,500 mortar systems, 400 grenades, 800 rocket-propelled grenades, 800 land mines, and more than 260,000 rifles and small arms.

"You could issue one [Fallujah] rifle to every man in the United States Marine Corps, and still have a bunch left over," says Wilson.

Senior officers say attacks in the Fallujah area have dropped off 44 percent since the invasion of the city began.

A chemical workshop that appeared designed to boost the explosive power of roadside bombs has also been found.

The Fallujah assault "is not good for the families and marines who have suffered and died, putting their lives on the line for the freedom of Iraq. But it has been good in terms of dealing a blow to the insurgency," says Wilson.

That message hadn't gotten through to the three insurgents who killed Magaoay. The insurgents, armed with assault rifles and pineapple grenades, had set up one sleeping area on each floor. Upstairs, they blocked the window with a bedding material and created a small, dark cubbyhole. A book lay on one mattress on the floor.

The marines estimate the insurgents had been in the house less than 12 hours. A bar of soap in the bathroom was still wet with use, immediately after the firefight.

One burst from the rebel rifle - and the toss of a hand grenade heralded the start of battle. Lance Cpl. Chris Anderson, a Marine scout from Tucson, Ariz., watched the grenade roll before it exploded. Shrapnel struck his left hand and shoulder.

"They knew where to place themselves in that house," Lance Corporal Anderson said later at a combat hospital. Magaoay's fate was not immediately clear, so marines used nonlethal stun and flash-bang grenades to fight their way back into the house to find him. Another team was led, in a split-second decision when others hesitated to enter, by Lance Cpl. Edward Lonecke, from Manchester, Ga. He was shot in the thigh, the moment he stormed in from the kitchen door.

"I knew if we could get Magaoay [out], we could blast the place," Lance Corporal Lonecke said later, as he waited for an evacuation flight to Germany. Once the marines pulled out, the house was pummeled with rockets and 25mm explosive rounds.

It was after the flames died down, that Corporal Richard, of Lafayette, La., returned, took snapshots, cursed the dead insurgents, and spat on their corpses.

Upstairs, an intelligence officer gingerly picked through the pockets of the bodies for evidence. His fingers came to rest on a steel pin, and a familiar shape: a final surprise left for the Americans by the suicidal insurgent.

"Grenade!" shouted the officer, leaning over the corpse. The marines dashed for the doorway.

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