Khaldiyah, Iraq ? Iraqi insurgents ambushed U.S. convoys with roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades Monday, triggering an eight-hour battle in which the American military — in a display of force — sent in fighter jets, bombers, helicopters and tanks. One U.S. soldier was killed, and three were wounded.

And in northern Iraq, U.S. soldiers launched two dozen raids, arresting 92 people and seizing weapons and ammunition. One of the raids involved the largest joint operation between U.S. military police and American-trained Iraqi police; about 200 Iraqi officers took part.

The two ambushes hit U.S. military convoys about 9 a.m. in the Sunni Muslim towns of Habaniyah and Khaldiyah, six miles apart along the Euphrates River.

As the major firefight raged in Khaldiyah, it seemed as though the Americans were pinned down, with the insurgents opening fire each time the U.S. patrol tried to withdraw. Eventually commanders called in jet fighters, A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft, helicopters and tanks.

The attackers apparently hid in trees and shrubs lining the dirt road where the roadside bombs left four big craters.

Civilians, including women and children, fled. One Iraqi man, running away with his wife, three other women, a nephew and five children, said many homes were damaged.

“Is this the freedom that we were promised?” he asked. “I had to get my family out. … The helicopters were firing almost nonstop. My 7-year-old is too young to hate but how can he not hate them (the Americans) after this?”

Lt. Col. Jeff Swisher, of the 1st Infantry Division, defended the use of force.

“American forces are here to provide security for the Iraqi people. If we are attacked, we are a well-trained and disciplined force, and we will respond,” Swisher said.

Members of the U.S. Army's 720th Military Police Battalion search a house while a boy sleeps during an early morning raid in Tikrit. Iraqi security forces, backed up by U.S. military police, carried out their largest-ever joint raid Monday in an effort to arrest those responsible for deadly attacks against American forces.

He said two soldiers were wounded and a civilian was hurt in the battle, from which U.S. forces did not begin withdrawing until 5:30 p.m.

About 10 minutes after the ambush in Khaldiyah, a homemade bomb exploded as a U.S. convoy passed in Habaniyah, killing one soldier and wounding another, said U.S. milita