|
|
 |
 |
|
| Press Article |
|
|
 |
|
| Battle rages in Falluja streets |
|
| Date : 09-11-2004 08:01 Source : bbc |
|
Insurgents are defending the city street by street.
But US troops reportedly reached a key objective early on Tuesday - a mosque in the northern part of the city.
US and Iraqi officials hope the assault, deeply unpopular with some Iraqis, will help prepare the way for elections in January.
It is estimated there could be tens of thousands of civilians still in Falluja.
The BBC's Paul Wood, embedded with US soldiers - and whose reporting is subject to military restrictions - says US-led forces are having to fight every step of the way.
A US tank commander said guerrillas were putting up a strong fight in the Jolan district of the city.
"These people are hardcore," Capt Robert Bodisch told Reuters news agency.
"A man pulled out from behind a wall and fired an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) at my tank. I have to get another tank to go back in there."
Sensitivities
Despite the fierce resistance, US-led forces say they have reached their first major objective - al-Hidra mosque 1km (0.6 miles) into Falluja from the north.
The US military said the building was being used as an arms depot and a meeting point for the leaders of the insurgency.
The mosque is surrounded, and Iraqi forces fighting alongside US marines will in due course storm it.
Our correspondent says the US military is intensely aware of local political sensitivities.
The main railway station has already been taken and has been occupied by Iraqi soldiers.
In other developments:
Iraq's largest Sunni-led political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, pulls out of the interim government unless the Falluja attack is stopped
The US military denies reports that one of its helicopters has been shot down over the city
A militant group vows to attack targets around Iraq in response to the offensive
A suspected car bomb hits an Iraqi National Guard base near the northern city of Kirkuk
Rebels target police stations in Baquba, north of Baghdad
There is no indication of casualty numbers from the main assault.
No way out
One Falluja resident, Fadril al-Badrani, speaking by phone to the BBC, described conditions as like hell and said hundreds of bombs and shells were exploding every minute.
Most of the 250,000 civilians who live in Falluja have fled the city ahead of the offensive.
But 30,000 to 50,000 are estimated to remain there, and their escape routes are closed.
Our correspondent says that despite efforts by US forces to select targets carefully, their use of heavy artillery and tanks is bound to lead civilian casualties.
The top US commander in Iraq, Gen George Casey, said US and Iraqi troops were facing an estimated 3,000 insurgents inside the city.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gave the go-ahead for the assault.
Asked to comment on the start of the Falluja assault, United Nations spokesman Fred Eckhard said Secretary General Kofi Annan believed force was sometimes necessary, but was concerned that the attack could "destabilise the country at a critical point in the preparation for the elections".
Falluja is a predominantly Sunni Muslim city that has been a hotbed of resistance to the US-led occupation of Iraq following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime last year.
Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said to be behind the kidnapping and killing of foreigners in Iraq, has urged resistance against the US-led attack and said victory will come "in a matter of days".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<< Back To Articles
|
|
|
|
