[Shadow_Group] Warplanes pound Fallujah as US death toll reaches 38 - Iraq

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

Warplanes pound Fallujah as US death toll reaches 38 

FROM:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/117200/1/.html<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/117200/1/.html>
FALLUJAH, Iraq : Warplanes struck Fallujah as US-led
forces hunted for diehard rebels after taking almost
total control of the city in a week-long battle that
killed 38 US soldiers and more than 1,200 insurgents. 

But victory in the flashpoint Iraqi enclave will not
spell the end to a vicious rebellion against Iraq's
US-backed government as violence flared in the
northern capital of Mosul and saboteurs bombed oil
wells in Kirkuk. 

"Iraqi forces and Multi-National Force-Iraq have
wrested most of Fallujah from insurgent control, but
operations are not over," the military said in a
statement, noting that US troops backed by Iraqi
soldiers were combing mosques and other buildings for
weapons as they secured the Sunni Muslim stronghold. 

"In the last 24 hours, multinational force aircraft
flew several close air support missions, attacking
anti-Iraqi forces in numerous buildings throughout the
city," a statement said, using military terminology to
describe militants. 

One warplane blasted an underground bunker complex of
steel-reinforced tunnels in the very south of Fallujah
during a pre-dawn raid, which appeared to have been
used by rebels to mount attacks. 

"The tunnels connected a ring of facilities filled
with weapons, an anti-aircraft artillery gun, bunk
beds, a truck and a suspected weapons cache," the
military said. 

Amid growing fears of a humanitarian crisis in
Fallujah, where a convoy of Red Crescent trucks
carrying vital food and medical supplies has been
prevented from entering freely due to the inherent
dangers, the military insisted that everything was
being done to treat wounded civilians. 

Troops informed residents over a loudspeaker to
approach soldiers if they needed medical help, it
explained. 

The Fallujah general hospital, which was seized by
US-led forces just before the official start of the
operation, was available for use, the military added. 

"In addition, a second hospital in eastern Fallujah is
seeing patients, and multinational forces have
re-supplied the hospital with water and fuel." 

The seizure of Fallujah will come at a price as the
death toll on both sides mounts and tens of thousands
of civilians remain in makeshift camps around the
city, once the symbol of resistance against the Iraq's
US-backed government. 

At least five Iraqi soldiers have also died in the
battle and scores have been wounded. 

There is also no sign of a let up in the lawlessness
that undermines the interim government of Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi as it struggles to prepare the
country for national elections promised by January. 

Clashes erupted over the weekend between insurgents
and government forces in the centre of Mosul, Iraq's
third largest city, with the two sides exchanging
automatic gunfire and rockets. They were particularly
heavy close to the police headquarters in the Zanjali
area, an AFP reporter said. 

Iraqi security forces are starting to reassert control
in the restive bastion, where a night time curfew is
in place. 

A convoy of 12 armoured US vehicles started to patrol
in the centre and the north for the first time since
the recent bout of violence broke out. 

Skirmishes also broke out in the restive city of
Ramadi, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Fallujah,
where six Iraqis were killed and five wounded Sunday. 

Rebels angered by the huge US and Iraqi government
offensive on nearby Fallujah deployed in force in
Ramadi last week. 

Hitting Iraq where it hurts the most, attackers
detonated four bombs near oil wells in the Kirkuk
region of northern Iraq on Sunday, triggering fires, a
security officer for the installations said. 

"Fires broke out and we are trying to put them out,"
said Anuza Daali, without being able to specify if
production was affected. 

At the start of the month, a series of attacks on a
pipeline network halted vital exports from Kirkuk to
Turkey. 

The attacks, which had little immediate impact on
world oil prices, dealt a new blow to Iraq's efforts
to boost exports from the north and bring in more
much-needed revenue for post-war reconstruction.



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