Posted on 11/09/2004 7:06:49 PM PST by Pikamax
House by house, Falluja falls
US forces reach centre of city as some fighters appear to have slipped away
Rory McCarthy in Baghdad Wednesday November 10, 2004 The Guardian
US troops pushed into the centre of Falluja yesterday, fighting their way from house to house and shooting through bands of militants in their drive to recapture the city that has been the centre of insurgency since the fall of Saddam Hussein. On the second day of the assault, US army forces pressed into the city from the east, reaching the centre as marine units drove their way down in two prongs from the north. Fighter bombers and heavy artillery fire cleared the way as the troops advanced.
Some American military officers estimated last night that a third of the city had been taken.
Meanwhile, US officials said 10 American and two Iraqi soldiers had died there since the offensive began.
Although some officers reported heavy resistance in some districts, overall the insurgents appeared to have put up less of a coordinated fight than expected.
"We expected a much fiercer reaction," said Major General Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem, head of Iraqi forces in Falluja and the province's new military governor.
He admitted some of the fighters may have already left. "There is movement in and out. It is a vast and difficult area. Some people even swim in and out," he said.
American commanders said they intended to place a tight cordon around the city to prevent fighters slipping away.
Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, in charge of day-to-day US-led military operations in Iraq, said: "I personally believe that some of the senior leaders probably have fled." He added that he believed the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was among those who had left the city.
He said the remaining insurgents were fighting in groups of three to six people. "We're a little ahead of schedule," he said. "I think the enemy is fighting hard, but not to the death."
Militants outside Falluja struck targets across Iraq, with attacks on police stations near Baquba, explosions ringing out every few hours in Baghdad, and hundreds of gunmen on the streets of Ramadi.
Iraq's prime minister, Ayad Allawi, imposed an indefinite night curfew on the capital for the first time in a year.
Dozens of insurgents are thought to have been killed in Falluja as well as some civilians, although there has been no independent toll of Iraqi dead.
Gen Metz said there had been few civilian casualties and that enemy casualties were "significantly higher than I expected".
Mohammed Amer, a doctor at a Falluja clinic, said 12 people had been killed and 17 injured, including a girl aged five and a boy, 10.
Commanders had expected heavy fighting in Jolan, a north-western district known to house the most hardline of the insurgents.
"These people are hardcore. They are putting up a strong fight and I saw many of them on the street I was on," Captain Robert Bodisch, a tank commander, told Reuters. "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," he said.
But across the city there was less resistance than expected. That may suggest fighters slipped away before the battle began, or that troops have yet to reach the heaviest concentrations of insurgents.
By noon yesterday US tanks and armoured personnel carriers had fought down from the north to the main road that runs through the city from east to west.
"My concern now is only one - not to allow any enemy to escape," said Colonel Michael Formica, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division. "I want them killed or captured as they flee."
In Baghdad, Mr Allawi urged the fighters to put down their weapons as he met leaders from some of the largest Sunni tribes in the area.
"The political solution is possible even if military operations are ongoing," said his spokesman, Thaer al-Naquib.
Residents in Falluja said power and water supplies had been cut and food stocks were low. Tens of thousands of families are thought to be still in the city. Several reports said a medical clinic had been bombed, killing some staff and patients.
Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at the main Falluja hospital seized by US troops on Sunday night, said he was treating the injured in a private house.
"There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit by US fire and a doctor wounded," he told Reuters.
The UN refugee agency said it was "extremely concerned" about the thousands of civilians who had fled the city.
Battle on, mates! More jihadis have an opportunity to become martyrs en masse.
so they are telling us the leadership has flown the coop.
figures the leaders got away...
after anouncing our intentions to pacify the city for what... the last eight weeks?
so have they now set up in another region which we will again anounce beforehand that we are going to attack?
stupid.
and frustrating to hear.
perhaps propaganda?
It's like one giant episode of COPS.
Related item:
fyi
I am pleantly surprised at the speed with which we are moving though Fallujah. I just hope that we leave nothing but jihadi bits in our wake.
pleantly = pleasantly
Cut out the living guts of these terrorists and use them to grease the treads of your tanks.
Perhaps with some additional billboard advertising they could have achieved complete non-surprise.
Yeah, what was with that, anyway? Loose lips sink ships.
On CNN, Wolf had an ex-Marine officier on that was saying that some number of the Terrorists may be holed up waiting for things to calm down and after some period , will come out of their cover and start causing destruction again...... perhaps after the Marines leave and we turn it over to the Iraqi Forces....
Did I miss the part of how many enemy were killed?
Probably true. Our enemy is a fearsome opponent.....against unamred citizens living a peaceful life. These cowards ran like chicken$hit Jihadi scum always do when they see real men, like the Marines or a US Army grunt. When is the last time an arabic or muslim country had an army worth a crap? They are all cowards or fanatically stupid. The best they can do is hide in buildings and blow up APCs. I have seen so many clips of these 3rd world losers get wasted by an apache or a Spectre. Its almost like a dark version of candid camera watching these retarted jihadis running around in circles in infrared before they are split in half by a 20mm cannon from 13,000 feet.
"Although some officers reported heavy resistance in some districts, overall the insurgents appeared to have put up less of a coordinated fight than expected."
Why would they expect that? The terrorists have little discipline or training and have repeated demonstrated that they prefer murdering children by remote control than fighting Marines and dying.
We have simply got to grease this guy, no matter the cost or the time spent. I wish that our troops will be home soon, but Zarqawi must be dead before that happens. IMHO he is a bigger target than OBL, and that's saying something. He needs killin'.......
Might they be using tunnels?
Someone help me understand this - we provide plenty of notice, allow most of the occupants of the city to leave, then go in? How does this help? The only thing I can think it would do is get the resistance leadership on the move, perhaps making them easier to track down. Otherwise, this whole assault doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It would make more sense if we would have just nailed them without warning.
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