Tuesday, November 9, 2004
U.S. forces pound way
to rebels' strongholds
Fallujah assault hits resistance; insurgents attack across Iraq
Enquirer news services
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A LOOK AT FALLUJAH INSURGENTS |
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Who they are: The bulk of the defenders are thought to be Sunni Muslims
from the Fallujah area, but they also include an unknown number of militants
from other countries, including followers of Jordan terror mastermind Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi. It's unclear whether al-Zarqawi is still in the city; Sunni
clerics insist that he never was. His followers have been blamed for deadly
bombings and the slayings of foreign hostages.
Numbers: Commanders estimate about 3,000 insurgents are dug in their
positions in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad. The vast majority of the
civilian population of 300,000 is believed to have fled, the U.S. military
said.
Where they are: Insurgent defenses are thought to be strongest in
the Jolan neighborhood, a poor district in the heart of Fallujah. Sunni
guerrillas also control other cities north and west of Baghdad. They are
distinct from
the Shiite Muslim followers of firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who
launched an uprising throughout southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad earlier
this year.
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DEVELOPMENTS MONDAY
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•Thousands of U.S. troops backed by thunderous air and artillery barrages
launched a ground offensive to seize key insurgent strongholds inside Fallujah,
the city that became Iraq's major sanctuary for Islamic extremists who fought
Marines to a standstill in April. Iraqi troops also were participating in
operations and took over the Fallujah train station.
• Two Marines were killed when their bulldozer flipped over into
the Euphrates River.
• A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed
across Fallujah in bombardments and skirmishes during the day. A doctor at
a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer, reported 12 people were killed. Seventeen
others, including a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were wounded,
he said.
• Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he was using emergency
powers he was granted the day before to impose a curfew on Fallujah and the
nearby town of Ramadi, starting at sundown. All roads into the two cities
were closed, and residents were barred from carrying weapons. Also, he announced
the borders with Syria and Jordan were sealed, and Baghdad International
Airport was closed for 48 hours.
• In Baghdad, militants attacked two churches with car bombs
and set off blasts at a hospital, killing at least six people and injuring
about 80 others, officials said.
• A U.S. soldier was killed when his patrol was fired on in eastern
Baghdad, the military said.
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FALLUJAH, Iraq - American-led forces bombed and fought their way into the heart of the city Monday and early today, and insurgents fought back with mortar rounds, machine-gun fire and hidden explosives.
Guerrilla fighters also retaliated with attacks across a swath of Iraq. Explosions shook Baghdad as fighters attacked bridges, churches and a hospital.
By dawn today, U.S. Army units had rolled into Fallujah through a breach near a train station, followed by Marines in Humvees and armored transport.
In the morning light, troops began conducting house-to-house searches in the city, as heavy machine gun fire crackled.
The U.S. military reported lighter resistance than expected in the northwestern Jolan neighborhood, a warren of alleyways where Sunni militants have dug in.
The military said the operation was going "smoothly" with minimal collateral damage despite round-the-clock bombardment.
"That's our guys fighting right now," said Maj. Clark Watson, with 3rd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment, as machine guns jackhammered nearby. "It's going well, it's a good day."
Overnight, U.S. airstrikes and artillery barrages turned the sky fiery red. Rain turned the ground to mud as soldiers with the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division punched into the city in armored vehicles. They advanced along routes cleared of roadside bombs and behind a smokescreen.
"You know, we're going to destroy this town," Capt. Travis Barreto, 22, said, as he and other soldiers advanced in an armored vehicle.
"I hope so," replied the soldier sitting next to him.
Marines have said they expect the fighting to be the most brutal urban combat since the Vietnam War. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Monday in Washington that insurgents on the city's outskirts "will probably fall back toward the center of the city, where there will probably be a major confrontation."
Before moving into Fallujah, 1st Infantry Division soldiers fired a rocket pulling a line studded with a ton of high explosives. Usually used to clear minefields, the rocket was used to clear roadside bombs and created a wall of fire that lit the night sky.
AC-130 Spectre gunships eliminated the risk of car bombs by flying over parked cars along city streets and destroying each car.
At one point, the soldiers found a building that was apparently booby-trapped, with a battery and wires leading to a nearby propane tank. A tank was called in to shoot and destroy the building before the convoy could progress.
Keep them from fleeing
Overhead, fighter jets unleashed a barrage of airstrikes.
To the east, armored units from the 1st Infantry Division cut off the main road into town. Tanks from the 1st Cavalry Division encircled Fallujah to block fighters trying to flee along alleyways, tunnels and dirt paths.
"We don't want them to leave Fallujah," 1st Infantry Lt. Col. Pete Newell said. "We want to kill them here."
The military had been calling the attack on Fallujah "Phantom Fury," but the Iraqi government renamed it al Fajr, "Operation New Dawn."
Barely an hour after Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi signaled the start of the Fallujah offensive Monday by declaring "the time of action has begun," retaliatory attacks began across the country.
Insurgents launched mortar volleys, coordinated car bombings, detonated roadside explosives and initiated small-arms attacks, killing an American soldier, a British soldier and at least 15 Iraqi civilians. Dozens more were wounded in attacks from the northern city of Mosul to villages south of Baghdad.
American warplanes bombed a makeshift cemetery in central Fallujah with strikes so forceful they unearthed the dead and scattered bodies, several residents said.
Hassan Mahmoud, a 28-year-old fighter, said he saw his comrades shooting at U.S. surveillance planes. He reported seeing "lots of injured militants being taken to houses" for medical treatment.
The main road leading into Fallujah from the east was packed with hidden explosives, with row after row of black cables leading into roadside ditches. Fighters said even grocery stores were booby-trapped.
Residents who intended to stay in town changed their minds after the offensive began. Skirting curfew, some even threw themselves into the Euphrates River to escape.
