Fighting rages in Iraq's Falluja after night lull |
November 10, 2004, 09:00 |
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US warplanes launched air strikes in the Iraqi city of Falluja today amid fierce fighting between US-led forces and rebels. Machinegun, mortar and rocket fire shook the Sunni Muslim city as planes made several bombing runs over the northwestern Jolan district within 15 minutes, a Reuters reporter said. Smoke was rising from houses just beyond Falluja's captured rail station, where Marines and Iraqi forces have a base. Marines said their opponents showed no signs of giving up, even though US forces penetrated to the centre of the city, west of Baghdad, after an offensive launched on Monday night. Marine tanks that pushed through central Falluja last night met tough resistance. Gunnery Sergeant Ishmail Castillo, a member of one tank crew, said insurgents along the main road that cuts through Falluja fired machine-guns and rocket propelled grenades after they had come under US mortar fire. Another said reporter said explosions and smoke marked heavy fighting in Jolan and the eastern Hay al-Askari district. The Pentagon said yesterday evening that at least 10 US and two Iraqi soldiers had died in the offensive unleashed by 10 000 US soldiers and Marines and 2 000 Iraqi troops. The assault on Falluja, where residents say wounded children are dying from lack of medical help, food shops are closed and power is cut, angered Sunni clerics who urged Iraqis to boycott January elections seen as vital to peace. Iyad Allawi, interim prime minister, who yesterday imposed a night curfew on Baghdad for an indefinite period, got a personal taste of Sunni anger at a Ramadan Iftar meal the same day. "You have to stop fighting for four or five hours," Adnan al-Dulaimi, a Sunni official in the religious affairs ministry, urged Allawi before the evening meal, a pool reporter said. "There are a lot of injured that have to be taken care of. Give them time to rescue the injured. There are civilians getting killed in Fallujah. You are responsible for their lives in front of God," Dulaimi declared. "As you know, we tried every alternative before resorting to military force," Allawi replied. "We have nothing against the civilians of Falluja...They are the sons of this country." Big fish get away Allawi and his US backers have vowed to retake rebel-held areas before the January polls. They say disgruntled Baathists and militants led by Jordanian al-Qaeda ally Zarqawi have turned Falluja into the epicentre of Iraq's bloody insurgency. Metz said Zarqawi and other senior rebels have probably already fled Falluja, leaving the fighting to lesser ranks. The Falluja assault has fuelled insecurity among Sunni Arabs, who make up some 20% of Iraq's 25 million people, but who wielded disproportionate power under Saddam Hussein. In a move which could undermine the January 27 polls, the influential Muslim Clerics' Association urged a boycott. "The clerics call on the ... people of Iraq to boycott the coming elections that they want to hold on the remains of the dead and the blood of the wounded from Iraqi cities like Falluja and others," said Harith al-Dhari, its top official. US Marines poured hundreds of rounds into rebel positions and blasted buildings with tank shells yesterday, but also took casualties with bloodied troops stretchered away. American aircraft destroyed one building in Falluja with a laser-guided bomb after US and Iraqi forces came under fire from insurgents inside, the US military said. Explosions could be heard across Falluja after nightfall, but large-scale fighting appeared to have eased. "I think we are looking at several more days of tough urban fighting," said the US commander in charge of day-to-day military operations in Iraq, Lieutenant-General Thomas Metz. Briefing reporters in Washington by video teleconference from Iraq, Metz said the 2 000-3 000 rebels were in Falluja putting up a scattered resistance with "little coherence". Rebel casualties were higher than expected and civilian losses were low, Metz said, without giving details. But residents say scores of civilians died and for those struggling to live in the city, life is grim. Many of the city's 300 000 people had fled to escape air strikes and artillery bombardments preceding the assault. The US military said about 150 000 residents had left. Those left behind say they have no power and use kerosene lamps. They keep to ground floors for safety, some living in shattered homes because it is too dangerous to move. - Reuters |
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