http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200410160301.htm
US slams Fallujah on ground and air Baghdad, Oct 16. (AP): U.S. warplanes pounded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Friday, a day after the city's leaders suspended peace talks and rejected the Iraqi government's demands to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Fallujah clerics insisted al-Zarqawi was not in the city and called for civil disobedience across Iraq if the Americans try to overrun the insurgent bastion. If civil disobedience won't stop the attack, clerics said they would proclaim a jihad, or holy war, against multinational forces ``as well as those collaborating with them.'' Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for Thursday's twin bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone - home to U.S. officials and the Iraqi leadership - which killed six people, including three American civilians, and wounded 27 others, mostly Iraqis. A fourth American was missing and presumed dead. Two Iraqis were killed, at least one of them a suicide bomber. The identity of the other wasn't known. The group's claim, which could not be verified, was posted on a Web site known for its Islamic contents. The U.S. military said a car loaded with 300 pounds of explosives blew up Friday near a police station in southwest Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding four others. The explosion targeted an Iraqi police patrol, the U.S. command said. Elsewhere, several mortar rounds believed fired from Syria exploded Friday near the border town of Husaybah, said Marine Lt. Col. Chris Woodbridge. There were no casualties. Marines say mortar attacks from Syrian territory have increased in recent weeks though it's unclear who is launching them. Thursday's bold, unprecedented attack in the Green Zone, which witnesses and a senior Iraqi official said was carried out by suicide bombers, dramatized the militants' ability to penetrate the heart of the U.S.-Iraqi leadership even as authorities step up military operations to suppress Sunni Muslim insurgents in other parts of the country. Jets and artillery hammered Fallujah through the night in an apparent effort to quash terrorists suspected of planning attacks timed with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Friday. By sundown Friday, witnesses reported a series of new airstrikes in the southern and eastern part of the city. One resident, Salah Abd, said Fallujah has been sealed off by American troops, who have prevented residents from leaving the area. Witnesses said Friday that U.S. troops have detained Khaled al-Jumeili, a cleric who led the city's delegates in peace negotiations with the government. They said he was arrested as he left a mosque after Friday prayers in a village about 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) south of Fallujah. Another man, Ahmed al-Janabi, also was arrested but was freed soon afterwards. Iraqi leaders have been in negotiations to restore government control to Fallujah, which fell under the domination of clerics and their armed mujahedeen followers after the end of the three-week Marine siege last April. Allawi warned Wednesday that Fallujah must surrender al-Zarqawi and other foreign fighters or face military action. Talks broke down Thursday when city representatives rejected the ``impossible condition'' since even the Americans were unable to catch al-Zarqawi, said Abu Asaad, spokesman for the mujahedeen council of Fallujah. The U.S. believes al-Zarqawi and his terrorist group are headquartered in Fallujah. Last year, the Ramadan period saw a surge in violence. During Friday sermons in Sunni mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere, preachers read a statement from Fallujah clerics declaring that al-Zarqawi's presence ``is a lie just like the weapons of mass destruction lie.'' ``Al-Zarqawi has become the pretext for flattening civilians houses and killing innocent civilians,'' the statement said. The clerics said that in the event of an all-out attack, they would call on all Muslims to launch a civil disobedience campaign against the Americans and their Iraqi allies. ``In case the interim government and occupation troops make no response following the civil disobedience campaign, Muslim scholars and representatives of all Islamic and national groups will declare jihad all over Iraq and declare a mobilization against the occupation troops as well as those collaborating with them,'' the statement said. During operations early Friday near Fallujah, Maj. Francis Piccoli, spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said two Marine battalions were trying to ``disrupt the capabilities of the anti-Iraqi forces.'' ``The operations were designed to target the large terrorist element operating in the area of Fallujah,'' the U.S. command said. ``This element has been planning to use the holy month of Ramadan for attacks.'' Early Friday morning, U.S. planes hit two sites described as al-Zarqawi planning centers. Other targets included a weapons transload and storage facility, two safehouses, a terrorist meeting site and several illegal checkpoints used by the Zarqawi network, the U.S. military said. Three people were killed and seven others injured during the night, according to Dr. Rafia Hiyad of Fallujah General Hospital. On Thursday, the hospital said at least five people were killed and 16 wounded. Late Thursday, Fallujah residents reported the most intensive shelling since U.S. forces began attacks aimed at al-Zarqawi's network. U.S. planes flew overhead Friday but the city was quiet. Following Thursday's attack in Baghdad, the U.S. military said security measures were being ``significantly increased for an undetermined period'' in several areas, including the Green Zone and Baghdad airport. The Americans killed in the Green Zone bombing were employees of DynCorp security company. Two other DynCorp employees and three State Department employees were wounded. The attack was the first time bombers had gotten inside the 10-square kilometer (4-square-mile) compound - surrounded by concrete walls, razor wire, sandbag bunkers and guard posts - and detonated an explosive. A homemade bomb was found in the zone last week but was defused. The U.S.-guarded enclave - home to about 10,000 Iraqis, government officials, foreign diplomats and military personnel - spreads along the banks of the Tigris River in the heart of the capital. The zone is centered on Saddam Hussein's mammoth Republican Palace, and there are dozens of smaller palatial buildings, houses, office buildings and a hospital once used by high-ranking members of the old Baath Party regime. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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