US-led forces advance towards heart of Falluja
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-09 15:21

U.S. forces thrust at least one km (0.6 miles) into rebel-held Falluja on Tuesday and were not far from the Iraqi city's heart, residents said.

"They are coming from the north and they have reached the Hay Naib al-Dubat and al-Naziza districts," one resident said.

Residents said smoke was rising from the whole city as it shook to constant explosions. Civilians were huddled in their homes and there was no word on casualties.

Marines and Iraqi troops were preparing to fight their way further into Falluja as part of an offensive to crush rebels and any foreign fighters in the Sunni Muslim city.

Iraqi troops with U.S. Marines prepare to move into the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja, November 9, 2004.  Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops backed by heavy air support and armour have stormed into the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja on Tuesday in the second major offensive in seven months to try to recapture the insurgent stronghold. The picture is from embedded photographer accompanying U.S. military. [Reuters]

"The Iraqi army and Marines will soon push into Falluja," Lieutenant-Colonel John Morris told Reuters as his men made their final preparations and machinegun fire rattled nearby.

Elsewhere in Iraq insurgents attacked three police stations in the town of Baquba northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 25 policemen and wounding many more, police said.

Residents said U.S. bombardment had destroyed a Falluja clinic that had been receiving casualties after U.S. and Iraqi forces seized the city's main hospital on Monday night.

Some medical staff and patients had been killed at the clinic in a central district, they added.

Doctors said at least 15 civilians had been killed in Monday's fighting. There was no word on U.S. casualties.

The offensive launched after dark on Monday was the second assault in seven months to try to pacify the rebel stronghold.

A nightscope image made from TV of US soldiers outside Fallujah hospital, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 8, 2004. US forces stormed into western districts of Fallujah early on Monday, seizing the main city hospital and securing two key bridges over the Euphrates River in what appeared to be the first stage of the long-expected assault on the rebel stronghold. [AP]

After a day of air strikes, shelling and tank fire, Marines launched the ground assault two hours after sundown, when Muslims break their daily fast in the month of Ramadan

Morris said the Marines were acting as a fist punching through Falluja while Iraqi forces would be used to seize weapons and fight insurgents along streets and alleyways.

"This will be a challenging task," said Morris, adding that insurgents had boobytrapped entire buildings.

The Iraqi and American troops were going on foot, backed by armored vehicles, into the battered city west of Baghdad.

"We will be trying to push to the heart of Falluja today," said Iraqi Master Sergeant Ghani Abdul-Zahra Yusuf.

Insurgents hit back in Baghdad, killing 11 people in bomb attacks on two churches, a hospital and other targets.

They also struck at British troops south of the capital, planting a roadside bomb that killed one soldier and wounded two when their Warrior armored vehicle was hit.

It was the fourth death in combat suffered by the Black Watch regiment since its troops moved to the area from their base in southern Iraq to free up U.S. soldiers for Falluja.

A poll in Britain's Times daily showed public hostility to the war in Iraq at a record high: 57 percent against 31 percent who thought the U.S.-led invasion was right.

Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government see Falluja and its sister city of Ramadi as havens for insurgents that must be retaken to allow nationwide elections to go ahead in January.

"We are determined to clean Falluja from the terrorists," interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in Baghdad.

Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed the theme.

"We have begun an operation in Falluja today to ... defeat this hornet's nest of insurgent activity and terrorist activity," he told reporters on his way to Mexico City.

Some rebels may have already fled the city, U.S. commander in Iraq General George Casey said, adding that 10,000 to 15,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops were engaged in Falluja.

"We expect that we will have a fight in there over the next few days. As I said, I do believe some have relocated already to other places, but others have come in," Casey said.

Allawi declared a 60-day emergency rule from Sunday to help crush the insurgency and pave the way for elections. On Monday, he used those powers to impose a curfew on Falluja and Ramadi and effectively seal the borders with Jordan and Syria.

The U.S. says 1,000 to 6,000 militants, some followers of Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and others Saddam Hussein loyalists, are holed up in Falluja.

Zarqawi's group, which has claimed hostage beheadings and some of Iraq's bloodiest suicide attacks, called on Muslims to take up arms against America. "Oh people, the war has begun and the call for jihad (holy war) has been made," it said.

Some Sunni and Shi'ite clerics have urged Iraqi forces to refuse to fight in Falluja. "We condemn this attack that will escalate the security situation inside Iraq," said Abdul Hadi al-Darraji, an aide to fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said victory in Falluja would not end the insurgency.

"Listen these folks are determined. These are killers. They chop people's heads off. They're getting money from around the world. They're getting recruits," he said.

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