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US forces unleash massive assault on Fallujah

US forces unleash massive assault on Fallujah

NEAR FALLUJAH – Thousands of US troops, backed by armour and a formidable air barrage, attacked the toughest strongholds of Sunni insurgents in Fallujah yesterday, launching a long-awaited offensive to put an end to guerrilla control of the Sunni Muslim city.

After nightfall, American troops advanced slowly on the northwestern Jolan neighbourhood, a warren of alleyways where Sunni militant fighters have dug in. Artillery, tanks and warplanes pounded the district’s northern edge, softening the defences and attempting to set off any bombs and boobytraps before troops moved in.At the same time, another force of 4 000 troops pushed into the northeastern Askari district, the first large-scale assault into the insurgent-held area of the city, the military said.Iraqi troops were expected to be involved in the attack, but there was no immediate word on their actions.A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in bombardments and skirmishes during the day.Before the thrust into the heart of the city, the US military reported its first casualties of the offensive – two Marines killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates.AP reporter Edward Harris, embedded with Marines near the railroad station just outside the city’s northern edge, said US forces hammered the Jolan district with airstrikes and intense tank fire to soften up defences.The Marines reported that at least initially they did not draw significant fire from insurgents, only a few rocket-propelled grenades that caused no casualties.Earlier Monday, in preparation for the full assault, US and Iraqi forces seized two bridges over the Euphrates River and a hospital on Fallujah’s western edge that they said was under insurgents’ control.The US-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he gave the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, aimed at breaking the backbone of the guerrillas before elections set for January.”We are determined to clean Fallujah of terrorists,” he told a press conference in Baghdad.Marine commanders have warned the new offensive could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam war.Some 10 000 US Marines, Army soldiers and Iraqi forces are around Fallujah, where commanders estimate around 3 000 insurgents are dug in.More than half the civilian population of some 300 000 people is believed to have fled already.MARTIAL LAW Allawi also announced he was using emergency powers he was granted the day before to impose a round-the-clock curfew on Fallujah and the nearby town of Ramadi, starting at sundown yesterday.All roads and government institutions in the two cities will be closed and no one will be allowed to carry weapons.Also, he announced the borders with Syria and Jordan were sealed, and Baghdad International Airport was closed for 48 hours.Before the main assault, Allawi visited the main US base outside Fallujah to rally Iraqi troops.”The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage …and you need to free them from their grip,” he told the soldiers at the camp, who swarmed around him when he arrived.”Your job is to arrest the killers but if you kill them, then so be it.””May they go to hell!” the soldiers shouted, and Allawi replied:”To hell they will go.”The prelude to the assault was a crushing air and artillery bombardment of the city that built from the night before, though yesterday morning and evening then rose to a crescendo by last night – with US jets dropping bombs constantly and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.As the main assault began in Fallujah, thunderous explosions could be heard across central Baghdad, some 50 kilometres to the east.Earlier, insurgents attacked a church in the capital, setting it ablaze and wounding 20 people, police said.- Nampa-APArtillery, tanks and warplanes pounded the district’s northern edge, softening the defences and attempting to set off any bombs and boobytraps before troops moved in.At the same time, another force of 4 000 troops pushed into the northeastern Askari district, the first large-scale assault into the insurgent-held area of the city, the military said.Iraqi troops were expected to be involved in the attack, but there was no immediate word on their actions.A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in bombardments and skirmishes during the day.Before the thrust into the heart of the city, the US military reported its first casualties of the offensive – two Marines killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates.AP reporter Edward Harris, embedded with Marines near the railroad station just outside the city’s northern edge, said US forces hammered the Jolan district with airstrikes and intense tank fire to soften up defences.The Marines reported that at least initially they did not draw significant fire from insurgents, only a few rocket-propelled grenades that caused no casualties.Earlier Monday, in preparation for the full assault, US and Iraqi forces seized two bridges over the Euphrates River and a hospital on Fallujah’s western edge that they said was under insurgents’ control.The US-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he gave the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, aimed at breaking the backbone of the guerrillas before elections set for January.”We are determined to clean Fallujah of terrorists,” he told a press conference in Baghdad.Marine commanders have warned the new offensive could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam war.Some 10 000 US Marines, Army soldiers and Iraqi forces are around Fallujah, where commanders estimate around 3 000 insurgents are dug in.More than half the civilian population of some 300 000 people is believed to have fled already.MARTIAL LAW Allawi also announced he was using emergency powers he was granted the day before to impose a round-the-clock curfew on Fallujah and the nearby town of Ramadi, starting at sundown yesterday.All roads and government institutions in the two cities will be closed and no one will be allowed to carry weapons.Also, he announced the borders with Syria and Jordan were sealed, and Baghdad International Airport was closed for 48 hours.Before the main assault, Allawi visited the main US base outside Fallujah to rally Iraqi troops.”The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage …and you need to free them from their grip,” he told the soldiers at the camp, who swarmed around him when he arrived.”Your job is to arrest the killers but if you kill them, then so be it.””May they go to hell!” the soldiers shouted, and Allawi replied:”To hell they will go.”The prelude to the assault was a crushing air and artillery bombardment of the city that built from the night before, though yesterday morning and evening then rose to a crescendo by last night – with US jets dropping bombs constantly and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.As the main assault began in Fallujah, thunderous explosions could be heard across central Baghdad, some 50 kilometres to the east.Earlier, insurgents attacked a church in the capital, setting it ablaze and wounding 20 people, police said.- Nampa-AP

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