Early morning shelling and clashes in Fallujah, a town near Baghdad that has been held by anti-government fighters for more than four months, killed eight people Friday, a doctor said.

Early morning shelling and clashes in Fallujah, a town near Baghdad that has been held by anti-government fighters for more than four months, killed eight people Friday, a doctor said.

The violence erupted at about 3:00 am (0000 GMT) and continued for several hours, a tribal leader said, with nine other people wounded in the firefights and bombardment.

Among the dead were two children, according to Dr Ahmed Shami, the chief of Fallujah's main hospital. Another two children were wounded.