US advances into heart of Fallujah

FALLUJAH - US Marines backed by air strikes fought their way through an insurgent stronghold in Fallujah on Wednesday, but have yet to quell resistance in Iraq's most rebellious city, Marines say.

Machine gun, mortar and rocket fire shook the Sunni Muslim city as planes made several bombing runs over the northwestern Jolan district within 15 minutes, a Reuters reporter said.

Smoke rose from houses just beyond Fallujah's captured railway station, where Marines and Iraqi forces have a base. Heavy fighting raged for about two hours.

"We've reached the heart of Jolan," Major Clark Watson said of an area the Marines view as a bastion for die-hard Saddam Hussein loyalists with military training.

"We have pushed through four square kilometres, but it's too early to say we are controlling it," he said. "That will take time because there will always be pockets of resistance."

Helicopters later fired missiles at targets in Jolan before Marine infantry moved back in.

A mortar landed near the rail station and small arms fire crackled as helicopters circled.

Watson, of the 1st Battalion of Marine infantry, said guerrillas were fighting back, but not as hard as expected. US commanders said many fighters had likely fled before the onslaught.

Meanwhile, three members of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's family have been kidnapped by gunmen, a spokesman for the Iraqi interim Government said.

A first cousin of the prime minister, the cousin's wife and another family member were seized from their home in Baghdad, spokesman George Sada said. He said no demands had been made by abductors.

US-led forces spearheaded by Marines launched an assault on Fallujah on Monday night aimed at clearing the city of Baathist rebels and foreign fighters said to be holed up there.

Iraq's interim Government has vowed to retake rebel-held cities to enable national elections to go ahead in January.

The US firepower raining down on Fallujah is sure to have caused civilian casualties, but no clear figures have emerged.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was "very worried" about the plight of the wounded in Fallujah.

Spokesman Ahmad al-Raoui said thousands of women, children and old folk who had fled Fallujah needed water, food, medical care and shelter. "They must be allowed to return home as soon as possible."

Marine tanks that forayed down a main road through central Fallujah on Tuesday night ran into heavy fire.

Gunnery Sergeant Ishmail Castillo said insurgents had responded to US mortar fire by firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the American tanks.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday evening that at least 10 US and two Iraqi soldiers had died in the offensive unleashed by 10,000 US soldiers and Marines and 2000 Iraqi troops.

The assault on Fallujah, where residents say wounded children are dying from lack of medical help, food shops are closed and power is cut, angered Sunni clerics who urged a boycott of the January election.


- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq