US claims to have 'pacified' rebel stronghold in Iraq

8.00am - By KIM SENGUPTA in Baghdad

US and Iraqi government forces declared yesterday that they had 'pacified' the rebel stronghold of Samarra, and stated that other 'no-go' enclaves like Fallujah would be recaptured before national elections due in January.

The Americans insisted that the estimated 125 killed in the storming of the city were all insurgents. However, doctors and local people reported women, children and the elderly among the dead, and that bodies were still being brought into hospitals.

There also appeared to have been discord over the military action between members of the US sponsored Iraqi interim government.

Interior Minister Falah Naqib echoed the American line that no civilians had been killed and only "bad guys and terrorists" had suffered. It was, he said, a "great day for Samarra".

But the Human Rights Ministry, in a letter to the Iraqi Red Crescent, described what happened in the city as a "tragedy" and called for urgent emergency assistance.

Local people in Samarra claimed that many of the 1,000 insurgents the Americans had targeted had escaped before the attack began, and the civilian population had borne the brunt of the casualties.

Families trying to bury the dead found the road to the cemetery blocked off by American soldiers. One man, Abu Qa'qa, claimed he had seen dogs picking at corpses in the street.

Abdel Latif Hadi, 45, said " The people who were hurt most are normal people who have nothing to do with anything."

Another resident, Mohammed Ali Amin, said, "There were American snipers on roof of houses who were shooting people trying to get to their homes. Even at the hospital the Americans arrested injured boys of 15 saying they were insurgents."

CNN television was told by one man that his sister-in-law and her six daughters were killed when the vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a US air strike.

Aid organisations said there was acute concern about continuing lack of water and electricity in Samarra and the difficulties faced by people attempting to seek medical treatment. More than 500 families had fled the city and needed to be returned to their homes.

Major General John Batiste, the commander in charge of the 5,000 US and Iraqi troops used in the assault, said "This has been a successful operation ...We are very confident that the future of Samarra is good. Operations will continue now for a few days before we are satisfied that we've killed or captured as many of the enemy that we can."

Fallujah, where Jordanian-born militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is said to be based, and the scene of bitter fighting in the past, is seen as the next target for the US and their Iraqi allies. Interior Minister Mr al-Naqib said: "The Iraqi government is moving from a defensive position to offensive position to regain control over all of Iraq."

It had been widely predicted, however, that an assault on Fallujah - expected to be a far bloodier enterprise - is unlikely to be authorised by Washington until the US presidential election next month.

But according to diplomatic sources, the Iraqi administration of Iyad Allawi is urging the US commanders to press on with the retaking of Fallujah. One of the main reasons, it is said, is because there is fear that if Senator John Kerry does win, he may not want to begin his term in office with television pictures of bitter fighting in Fallujah and American casualties.

US air attacks continued on Fallujah in what is viewed as a 'softening-up' process before a fully-fledged attack. What the American military called " precision strikes", took place through the weekend on targets in the city.

A spokesman for coalition forces said: "A large number of enemy fighters are presumed killed" in a bombing attack yesterday. But residents in Fallujah said a previous air strike had killed eight people at the home of Hamad Hdaib Mohammedi, who was known for his opposition to the militants. Television footage showed the body of a small girl being pulled from the rubble of the house.

Another air attack is said to have killed five foreign fighters - four Saudis and a Syrian. But concussion from the blast brought down the roof of a house next door, killing four women and a young boy.

US forces have also been nightly pounding Sadr City, a vast Shia slum and a 'no-go' area on the edges of Baghdad, with helicopter gunships and tank shells.
Twelve people were killed over the last 48 hours.

Elsewhere, three US soldiers were injured when a car bomb exploded next to an army convoy in western Mosul and a Marine was injured in a car bombing while on patrol west of Baghdad. In Ramadi, American soldiers are said to have killed a woman bystander when they opened fire after being ambushed.

- INDEPENDENT

Herald Feature: Iraq