| Three British soldiers killed in Iraq as Fallujah braces for assault (04/11/2004) |
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| BAGHDAD (AFP) Three newly-redeployed British soldiers were killed in an attack south of Baghdad, as the Iraqi rebel city of Fallujah braced for an all-out assault after US President George W. Bush's re-election. Britain's armed forces minister, Adam Ingram, said the troops were killed along with an Iraqi interpreter in a suicide and mortar attack at a checkpoint. Eight troops of the Black Watch regiment were injured. A total of 73 British troops have died in Iraq since US-led forces invaded the country in March 2003, 34 of them in combat. But the latest deaths were the first among the Black Watch soldiers since several hundred of them were redeployed from south Iraq to more dangerous areas near Baghdad to relieve US troops preparing for an offensive in Fallujah. The deaths follow fierce criticism of Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to redeploy the troops. On the Fal lujah front, US artillery pounded suspected rebel positions inside the city on Thursday night, said a marine officer. An AFP reporter embedded with US troops camped near Fallujah said AC-130 gunships and loud explosions could be heard from the direction of the city at about 9:45 pm (1845 GMT) and lasted for 10 minutes. Warplanes also hit insurgent positions inside the city earlier Thursday. The stepped up strikes against Fallujah came after the re-election of Bush who pledged to ensure that polls due to be held in Iraq in January are a success. Thousands of families have already fled the city, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad, where US ground troops have massed since mid-October. Residents who have been displaced say nearly half of the city's population of about 300,000 have fled to makeshift camps outside Fallujah or are seeking shelter with fellow Sunni families in Baghdad. Insurgents hit back with two car bombings around Baghdad that left four people dead and dozens wounded, while two local Iraqi leaders were gunned down in separate attacks. The relentless violence prompted relief agency Doctors without Borders to announce it was pulling its staff out of the country. But Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, on a trip to Europe, called on all countries -- including those opposed to the war which toppled Saddam Hussein -- to help build a new Iraq. Analysts said Bush's victory in the presidential race increased the chances of a violent showdown between US troops and rebels over the flashpoint city of Fallujah, the suspected hideout of Al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers. "US troops will enter Fallujah, Latifiyah, Ramadi and Qaim all at once in the next few days after Bush's re-election," said Mohammed al-Askari, a former Iraqi army officer turned political analyst, referring to other flashpoints. US and Iraqi officials are desperate to crush the insurgency ahe ad of national elections planned for January, and have threatened force if necessary. "These elections are important," Bush said in his first post re-election news conference, vowing to ensure commanders on the ground in Iraq would receive extra troops if necessary to "complete their missions". For his part Allawi took a stab at France and Germany, urging "spectator" countries to get involved in stabilizing his country. "I want to take this opportunity to call on the countries which are content to have a spectator role to help us to build a better Iraq," he told reporters during a visit to Rome. France and Germany strongly opposed last year's invasion and have refused to send troops to join the US-led coalition in Iraq. Hungary said Wednesday it would withdraw its 300-troop contingent from the country at the end of March. Time was fast running out for kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan after her unknown kidnappers threatened to deliver the British-Irish woman to Zarqawi by a Thursday deadline unless Britain pulled its troops out of the country. The 59-year-old, who is married to an Iraqi and is the Iraq director of relief agency CARE International, has been held hostage since October 19. The agency has since closed its operations in Iraq. Insurgents have waged a bloody campaign of bombings and kidnappings in a bid to derail the election process and undermine the interim government. At least four Iraqis were killed and 18 wounded when a car bomb exploded Thursday outside a city council building north of Baghdad, while a second car bombing to the south wounded six Iraqi national guards. In a separate attack northeast of the Iraqi capital, unknown assailants shot dead Jassem Ali, who heads the village of Heb Heb, and wounded two bodyguards. In Ramadi, another hotspot west of Fallujah, meanwhile, the head of a powerful local tribe, Sheikh Khamis Futaikhan, was gunned down in an a mbush on his car. In a further blow to Iraq's rehabilitation, Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres - MSF) said it was pulling out of Iraq because of escalating violence and the danger to its staff. Meanwhile, a body suspected to be that of an Iraqi man was found in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said, adding that the victim had been blindfolded and shot dead, most likely for collaborating with US forces. As preparations for Iraq's polls gathered steam, election organisers announced that Iraqis living abroad would be allowed to vote, ending months of debate over the thorny issue. |
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| ©AFP | ||
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