seruriermarshal
05-10-2004, 04:26 AM
Heavy gunfire in Fallujah as Marines convoy passes through
9 minutes ago
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - Heavy machine-gun fire erupted in Fallujah after more than a dozen US Marines' armoured vehicles entered the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah on a symbolic tour of the city, an AFP correspondent heard.
The firing lasted for several minutes after a joint convoy of US Marines and Iraqi Civil Defence Corps and police crossed into the war-battered city, according to the correspondent embedded with the marines.
Fallujah was rocked in April by the heaviest fighting in Iraq (news - web sites) since the US invasion last year. The month of violence ended only after the marines struck a deal with former Iraqi generals to police the city.
Police and Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC) vehicles were interspersed in the joint convoy through the war torn city, with a lead element of ICDC carrying an old red, black and white Iraqi flag.
Earlier, a marine officer told AFP the convoy would include Major General James Mattis, the head of the 1st Marine Division, but it was impossible to confirm if he was in one of the 20 vehicles that sped through.
Since the marines struck a deal with former Iraqi generals at the end of April, Fallujah has been patroled by Iraqi police and the newly-formed Fallujah Brigade, an ad-hoc force of army veterans, many of them with links to Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s old Baath party.
Until now, marines have manned joint checkpoints with Iraqi security teams on the city's periphery, but Monday's convoy stands as an effective test of the calm ruling Fallujah since the police, ICDC and Fallujah Brigade took over responsibility here last week.
Marines vehicles sealed off the city and helicopters flew overhead.
Last month's fighting prompted by the March 31 murder of four US contractors on the city's main street left hundreds of Iraqis and marines dead.
The convoy could precede a greater pullback of marines from the edge of the city and accelerate the process of restoring normality and pumping 77 million dollars of reconstruction funds into Fallujah.
Until now, Fallujah's northwestern neighborhood of Jolan remains a haven of insurgents and marines are deployed, alongside ICDC, outside the district.
9 minutes ago
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - Heavy machine-gun fire erupted in Fallujah after more than a dozen US Marines' armoured vehicles entered the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah on a symbolic tour of the city, an AFP correspondent heard.
The firing lasted for several minutes after a joint convoy of US Marines and Iraqi Civil Defence Corps and police crossed into the war-battered city, according to the correspondent embedded with the marines.
Fallujah was rocked in April by the heaviest fighting in Iraq (news - web sites) since the US invasion last year. The month of violence ended only after the marines struck a deal with former Iraqi generals to police the city.
Police and Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC) vehicles were interspersed in the joint convoy through the war torn city, with a lead element of ICDC carrying an old red, black and white Iraqi flag.
Earlier, a marine officer told AFP the convoy would include Major General James Mattis, the head of the 1st Marine Division, but it was impossible to confirm if he was in one of the 20 vehicles that sped through.
Since the marines struck a deal with former Iraqi generals at the end of April, Fallujah has been patroled by Iraqi police and the newly-formed Fallujah Brigade, an ad-hoc force of army veterans, many of them with links to Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s old Baath party.
Until now, marines have manned joint checkpoints with Iraqi security teams on the city's periphery, but Monday's convoy stands as an effective test of the calm ruling Fallujah since the police, ICDC and Fallujah Brigade took over responsibility here last week.
Marines vehicles sealed off the city and helicopters flew overhead.
Last month's fighting prompted by the March 31 murder of four US contractors on the city's main street left hundreds of Iraqis and marines dead.
The convoy could precede a greater pullback of marines from the edge of the city and accelerate the process of restoring normality and pumping 77 million dollars of reconstruction funds into Fallujah.
Until now, Fallujah's northwestern neighborhood of Jolan remains a haven of insurgents and marines are deployed, alongside ICDC, outside the district.