ANTI-WAR activists in Southampton staged a mock funeral procession through the Southampton city centre in memory of victims of the fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Protesters donned black clothing and laid white flowers and wreaths at the city's cenotaph to remember the civilian casualties caught up in the joint action by American and British forces to capture the city.

Anti-war campaigner Giulia Giglotti said: "The point of the protest is that war kills everybody, it does not just kill combatants.

"It kills innocent people. About 90 per cent of people who have been killed in the attacks are civilians."

Meanwhile US forces yesterday resumed heavy air strikes and artillery fire on the city.

US forces have spread throughout the city although it could take several more days before it is secured, officials confirmed.