|
Clashes sweep iraqi sunni muslim heartland Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=252801http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=252801
Clashes Sweep Iraqi Sunni Muslim Heartland
Fighting Sweeps Iraq's Sunni Muslim Heartland As U.S. Offensive in Fallujah Winds Down
The Associated Press
Nov. 15, 2004 - Explosions and gunfire broke out Monday in Baqouba the latest in a wave of clashes that has swept Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland even as U.S. and Iraqi forces move against the last remaining pockets of resistance in Fallujah.
Witnesses said insurgents were fighting Iraqi police, and explosions and heavy gunfire were echoing through Baqouba's streets.
The U.S. military said insurgents opened fire on Iraqi police from inside a mosque in Baqouba Monday morning and police forces then stormed and clear out the mosque. The U.S. command said a weapons cache, including rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, was uncovered inside.
Firefights also erupted just south of Baqouba in the town of Buhriz, as insurgents attacked some police stations and a nearby U.S. base, residents said. The two cities are located about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
On Sunday, U.S. Marines found the mutilated body of a Western woman as they searched for militants still holding out in Fallujah. The woman could not be immediately identified, but a British aide worker and a Pole are the only Western women known to have been taken hostage.
The week-old offensive in Fallujah, the city that came to symbolize resistance to the U.S.-led occupation, has left at least 38 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers dead. The number of U.S. troops wounded is now 275, though more than 60 have returned to duty. U.S. officials estimated more than 1,200 insurgents have been killed.
On Monday, U.S. forces resumed heavy airstrikes and artillery fire, with warplanes making between 20-30 bombing sorties in Fallujah and surrounding areas. U.S. ground forces were trying to corner the remaining resistance in the city.
American forces had attacked a bunker complex Sunday in the city's south where they discovered a network of steel-reinforced tunnels and underground bunkers. The tunnels connected a ring of facilities filled with weapons, an anti-aircraft artillery gun, bunk beds and a truck, according to a statement from the U.S. military.
Civilians seeking medical care were told through loudspeakers and leaflets to contact U.S. troops. A second Iraqi Red Crescent convoy was expected to travel to Fallujah Monday with food and supplies.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the Marine general who designed the ground attack on Fallujah said it had gone far more quickly than expected and that troops had fought their way across the city in just six days.
Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski on Sunday described the ground war as a "flawless execution of the plan we drew up. We are actually ahead of schedule."
As fighting in Fallujah neared its conclusion, insurgent attacks escalated elsewhere in Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq.
Clashes between gunmen and Iraqi security forces early Monday south of Baghdad killed seven Iraqi police and national guardsmen and injured five others, police said.
Gunmen carried out near-simultaneous attacks on a police station and an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in Suwayrah, about 25 miles south of Baghdad, police said. Two from the police and five National Guardsmen were killed.
The dead included Maj. Hadi Refeidi, the director of the Suwayrah police station.
Before the clashes, National Guardsmen opened fire at a boobytrapped car approaching their headquarters, killing the driver. The car was loaded with 880 pounds of TNT.
In the insurgent-heavy city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital, heavy fighting erupted on Monday between militants and U.S. forces, residents said.
Sunni clerics at several mosques called on residents to kick out bands of armed men who have come from outside the city, claiming that the clashes inside Ramada are having a negative impact on the economic situation of citizens.
The clerics also said that Ramadi residents want to send their children to schools and to have state offices reopened. Residents in one neighborhood, Aziziyah, confiscated the weapons of some gunmen roaming in their area, witnesses said.
North of Ramadi, a U.S. convoy came under attack near the town of Baghdadi, with one Humvee destroyed, according to a Baghdadi police Lt. Mohammed Abdel Karim. There was no confirmation from the U.S. military about the incident.
In Mosul, where an uprising broke out last week in support of the Fallujah defenders, militants raided two police stations, killing at least six Iraqi National Guards and wounding three others. One insurgent was killed and three others were wounded before Iraqi security forces regained control of both stations, witnesses said.
Insurgents also set fire to the governor's house, destroying it and damaging his car in northern Mosul. Governor Duraid Kashmoula also said the curfew will continue to be imposed on the city from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. in the morning.
A gunbattle erupted Sunday between militants and U.S. troops in the main market in the northern town of Beiji, killing at least six people and wounding 20 others, according to witnesses.
The clash followed an attack in Beiji against American soldiers, who responded with tank rounds and Hellfire missiles, the U.S. military said.
Saboteurs set fire Sunday to four oil wells in Iraq's northern fields, setting off successive explosions in Khabbaza, 12 miles northwest of Kirkuk, oil officials said.
Heavy explosions rattled central Baghdad near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels after nightfall Sunday, followed by bursts of sporadic gunfire. The U.S. military said initial reports indicated rockets or mortars had struck the area, killing two Iraqis and wounding another.
About an hour later, about four more large explosions rocked the Green Zone, headquarters of the U.S. and Iraqi leadership. At least one private security guard was killed. Clashes were also reported on Haifa Street, a center of insurgent support in the heart of the capital.
More than a dozen insurgents attacked the Polish Embassy in Baghdad with automatic weapons Sunday, and embassy guards returned fire in an exchange that lasted for a half hour, a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Warsaw. No one was reported killed or wounded.
The disemboweled body of the woman was wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket on a street in Fallujah, Marines said. Margaret Hassan, 59, director of CARE international in Iraq, and Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq, were abducted last month but the body could not be identified without further tests.
Associated Press reporters Edward Harris in Fallujah and Robert H. Reid, Sameer N. Yacoub, Mariam Fam, Sabah Jerges, Katarina Kratovac and Maggie Michael in Baghdad contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2004 ABC News Internet Ventures
|
|
