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| Monday, 15 November 2004 |
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US troops tackle die-hard Fallujah rebels, threat of Mosul assault looms BAGHDAD, Sunday (AFP) US troops tackled the last die-hard militants in Fallujah on Sunday with the city almost under control, while expectations grew of a military assault on Iraq's rebellious northern capital of Mosul. Iraq's top security official said on Saturday that the battle for Fallujah, a symbol of the insurgency that has plagued the country since last year's US-led invasion, had been completed and only pockets of resistance remained. But US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the comments were premature. On the ground, US troops continued to rake buildings with gun and tank fire as they sifted through the rubble-strewn streets for the remaining fighters. "There are 50 to 80 mixed Iraqis and foreign fighters gathering in the southwest, waiting for the final standoff," said Lieutenant Christopher Pimms. "The more we push south, the more fights get heavier and more organised... They are setting up IEDs (improvised explosive devices) along the roads." Despite being hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, the insurgents in Fallujah have refused to surrender their stronghold without a fierce struggle. Three marines were killed Saturday in an explosion as they entered a booby-trapped building in the heart of the city, while another 13 were wounded in a firefight nearby, a marine officer said. The latest deaths bring to at least 25 the number of US troops who have been killed in the fight for Fallujah, which was launched on Monday. Five Iraqi soldiers have also died along with more than 1,000 insurgents. Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi authorised the mission to regain control of Fallujah as the pillar of a pledge to crush insurgents in Iraq and restore order ahead of elections planned for January. Qassem Daoud, secretary of state for national security, announced that the so-called Operation Fajr (Dawn) had been accomplished and "only the malignant pockets remain that we are dealing with through a clean-up operation." He admitted, however, that Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose supporters had made Fallujah their base, and a top aide had slipped through their fingers. For his part, Rumsfeld, on a visit to Panama, told reporters most of Fallujah was under control, although the battle was not over. The Iraqi and US troops were "operating in one way or another in much if not all of the city at the present time," he said. "Needless to say there still will be pockets of resistance and areas that will be difficult, so I don't mean to suggest that it is concluded." Any victory, will likely ring hollow as lawlessness flares elsewhere - in particular Iraq's third city of Mosul - and aid agencies warn about the plight of civilians still inside Fallujah and the tens of thousands who fled. The Iraqi Red Crescent is struggling to give food and medical aid to residents inside the city after a convoy of emergency supplies entered Fallujah Saturday but only got as far the US-occupied hospital. "They are in the general hospital, but until now the Americans will not let them distribute medical supplies in the city," said Red Crescent spokeswoman Ferdus al-Ibadi, referring to a team of some 50 volunteers and three doctors who had travelled from Baghdad to Fallujah. A US military spokesman said late on Saturday that he was unsure whether the convoy would be allowed to enter further. Neither party was immediately available for an update on the situation. "The people inside Fallujah are dying and starving, they need us. It is our duty as a humanitarian agency to do our job for these people in these circumstances," Ibadi said on Saturday. With the insurgents growing bolder by the day in Mosul, 370 kilometres (230 miles) north of Baghdad, Allawi said that Iraqi security forces were massing and would move on the city of more than a million people soon. "We will be moving in the next day or so in Mosul to restore the rule of law," he said, without providing details. An AFP reporter saw looters rampage through a palace in Mosul on Saturday that had been used by a foreign company after the staff left at dawn. The situation elsewhere in Iraq remained unstable. The Shiite holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad joined a growing list of cities to be put under curfew, while Baghdad's international airport was closed indefinitely to commercial flights. Fallujah, Baghdad, Mosul, Baiji, Hilla, Samarra and Hawijah are also under a military-enforced lockdown that has been imposed under a 60-day nationwide state of emergency declared before the Fallujah assault. |
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