Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Battle rages in centre of Falluja
US marines have taken the mayor's office in central Falluja and say they now control 70% of the Iraqi city with rebels hemmed into a narrow strip.
Reporting from the mayoral compound, the BBC's Paul Wood says a battle is still raging in the city centre while US-led forces control the perimeter.
According to US estimates, hundreds of rebels were killed on Wednesday alone and at least one more marine died.
Relief groups say they are deeply worried about the fate of civilians.
The fighters are simply moving from street to street, attacking US troops where they can and allowing them through where they can't Fadhil Badrani journalist in Falluja
Our correspondent said that on Wednesday morning no civilians could be seen on the streets, shops were shuttered and black smoke was rising all around.
Fadhil Badrani, a journalist in Falluja who reports for the BBC World Service in Arabic, compared the city to Kabul, the Afghan capital largely reduced to rubble after years of warfare.
One marine officer, Maj Francis Piccoli, said the rebels had been squeezed into a strip of the city bordering the main east-west road, which splits Falluja.
"There's going to be a movement today in those areas," he added.
Iraq's government has offered an amnesty to any armed groups in Falluja who surrender and are not found to have committed any "major" crimes.
In another development, the chief spokesman for the joint US-Iraqi operation in Falluja, Maj Gen Abdul Qader Mohan, told reporters that Iraqi troops had found houses where hostages had been held and "slaughtered".
Elsewhere in Iraq on Wednesday:
Militants abduct a first cousin of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and two of his family members in Baghdad, reportedly threatening to kill them unless the Falluja siege is lifted
The governor in Mosul imposes an indefinite curfew after militants kill four members of the Iraqi security forces and a foreign contractor
Attacks at Balad, Baiji, Karbala and Tuz leave 12 members of the Iraqi security forces and one US soldier dead.
Bodies in the streets
In Falluja, Marines backed by tanks met little opposition when they blasted their way into the mayor's compound, which also houses a police station, early on Wednesday.
However, they later came under sustained fire from the minaret of a mosque, says our correspondent, whose reports are subject to military restrictions.
According to marines, the rebels waved a white flag at one stage but opened fire from three directions when a marine interpreter tried to begin talks. The marines then called in air strikes.
Fadhil Badrani told the BBC News website that the battle was particularly fierce in the district of Jolan, just north of the centre.
He said he had seen the bodies of eight US soldiers lying in the streets of the city's Hammaniyya area overnight, along with the remains of many dead rebels. He had also found two disabled US tanks and three destroyed Humvee jeeps.
FALLUJA ASSAULT FACTS
Up to 15,000 US and Iraqi troops involved
Estimated 3,000 Iraqi insurgent and foreign fighters in city
Estimated 50,000 civilians remain out of usual population of some 300,000
The journalist added that rebels were moving from street to street, attacking US troops where they could and letting them pass where they could not.
He said he doubted the truth of US claims that marines were in control of 70% of the city.
The US military's total death toll for the Falluja operation rose to 11 Americans and two Iraqi government soldiers on Wednesday. On Tuesday evening, it was saying 10 Americans.
'Total destruction'
Lt Gen Thomas Metz, the multinational ground force commander in Iraq, warned of "several more days of tough urban fighting" ahead, adding that rebel leaders such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - America's most wanted man in Iraq - appeared to have fled before the assault began.
URBAN WARFARE
In Washington, President George W Bush praised the US-led forces in Falluja for their "hard work... for a free Iraq".
However, Iran voiced serious concern over Iraqi losses in Falluja.
Aid agencies have highlighted the plight of civilians in Falluja where up to 50,000 people remain out of a pre-war population of 300,000.
The Red Cross has urged all combatants to guarantee passage to the wounded.
Paul Wood notes that despite efforts by US forces to select targets carefully, their use of heavy artillery and tanks is bound to lead to civilian casualties.
An unnamed man claiming to be a rebel fighter told the BBC's Today programme that the destruction in Falluja was "total".
"The Americans are bombing everywhere," he said, adding that water and electricity had been cut off.
The assault on Falluja, a hotbed of Sunni resistance, is officially aimed at stabilising Iraq ahead of January's poll.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/3998049.stmPublished: 2004/11/10 15:48:25 GMT© BBC MMIV
US marines have taken the mayor's office in central Falluja and say they now control 70% of the Iraqi city with rebels hemmed into a narrow strip.
Reporting from the mayoral compound, the BBC's Paul Wood says a battle is still raging in the city centre while US-led forces control the perimeter.
According to US estimates, hundreds of rebels were killed on Wednesday alone and at least one more marine died.
Relief groups say they are deeply worried about the fate of civilians.
The fighters are simply moving from street to street, attacking US troops where they can and allowing them through where they can't Fadhil Badrani journalist in Falluja
Our correspondent said that on Wednesday morning no civilians could be seen on the streets, shops were shuttered and black smoke was rising all around.
Fadhil Badrani, a journalist in Falluja who reports for the BBC World Service in Arabic, compared the city to Kabul, the Afghan capital largely reduced to rubble after years of warfare.
One marine officer, Maj Francis Piccoli, said the rebels had been squeezed into a strip of the city bordering the main east-west road, which splits Falluja.
"There's going to be a movement today in those areas," he added.
Iraq's government has offered an amnesty to any armed groups in Falluja who surrender and are not found to have committed any "major" crimes.
In another development, the chief spokesman for the joint US-Iraqi operation in Falluja, Maj Gen Abdul Qader Mohan, told reporters that Iraqi troops had found houses where hostages had been held and "slaughtered".
Elsewhere in Iraq on Wednesday:
Militants abduct a first cousin of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and two of his family members in Baghdad, reportedly threatening to kill them unless the Falluja siege is lifted
The governor in Mosul imposes an indefinite curfew after militants kill four members of the Iraqi security forces and a foreign contractor
Attacks at Balad, Baiji, Karbala and Tuz leave 12 members of the Iraqi security forces and one US soldier dead.
Bodies in the streets
In Falluja, Marines backed by tanks met little opposition when they blasted their way into the mayor's compound, which also houses a police station, early on Wednesday.
However, they later came under sustained fire from the minaret of a mosque, says our correspondent, whose reports are subject to military restrictions.
According to marines, the rebels waved a white flag at one stage but opened fire from three directions when a marine interpreter tried to begin talks. The marines then called in air strikes.
Fadhil Badrani told the BBC News website that the battle was particularly fierce in the district of Jolan, just north of the centre.
He said he had seen the bodies of eight US soldiers lying in the streets of the city's Hammaniyya area overnight, along with the remains of many dead rebels. He had also found two disabled US tanks and three destroyed Humvee jeeps.
FALLUJA ASSAULT FACTS
Up to 15,000 US and Iraqi troops involved
Estimated 3,000 Iraqi insurgent and foreign fighters in city
Estimated 50,000 civilians remain out of usual population of some 300,000
The journalist added that rebels were moving from street to street, attacking US troops where they could and letting them pass where they could not.
He said he doubted the truth of US claims that marines were in control of 70% of the city.
The US military's total death toll for the Falluja operation rose to 11 Americans and two Iraqi government soldiers on Wednesday. On Tuesday evening, it was saying 10 Americans.
'Total destruction'
Lt Gen Thomas Metz, the multinational ground force commander in Iraq, warned of "several more days of tough urban fighting" ahead, adding that rebel leaders such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - America's most wanted man in Iraq - appeared to have fled before the assault began.
URBAN WARFARE
In Washington, President George W Bush praised the US-led forces in Falluja for their "hard work... for a free Iraq".
However, Iran voiced serious concern over Iraqi losses in Falluja.
Aid agencies have highlighted the plight of civilians in Falluja where up to 50,000 people remain out of a pre-war population of 300,000.
The Red Cross has urged all combatants to guarantee passage to the wounded.
Paul Wood notes that despite efforts by US forces to select targets carefully, their use of heavy artillery and tanks is bound to lead to civilian casualties.
An unnamed man claiming to be a rebel fighter told the BBC's Today programme that the destruction in Falluja was "total".
"The Americans are bombing everywhere," he said, adding that water and electricity had been cut off.
The assault on Falluja, a hotbed of Sunni resistance, is officially aimed at stabilising Iraq ahead of January's poll.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/3998049.stmPublished: 2004/11/10 15:48:25 GMT© BBC MMIV
