!Fallujah Update 5!

[Scottie]

The Iraqi flag has been raised over the central police station in Fallujah after another morning of heavy fighting.

The US military says it now controls 70% of the rebel stronghold - and could take full control in the next 48 hours.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253626.jpg
US troops fire on rebels

US Marines have resumed their artillery bombardment of insurgents. There have also been further aerial assaults.

American tanks met fierce resistance as they rolled into the centre of Fallujah.

They came under heavy fire from machine guns and rocket propelled grenades along Highway 10, the main road through the town which they went on to secure.

The Pentagon says at least 11 US and two Iraqi soldiers had died in Operation Phantom Fury, which began on Monday.

Some 10,000 US Marines and 2,000 Iraqi troops are involved in the offensive.

Sky News correspondent David Chater, who is travelling with them, said the raising of the flag filled the Iraqi soldiers with great pride.

"They have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with US Marines and they have more than proved their worth," he said.


Overall, resistance has not been as strong as expected - it is thought several thousand insurgents have either retreated to the south of the city or have fled.

Lt Gen Thomas Metz, the officer in charge of the operation, said it was safe to assume terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi had also left.

Another officer said the Marines expect to be in complete control of Fallujah by Friday if the assault continues on course.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said it would take up to a week to make the northeast corner of Fallujah safe "and at least 10 days to clear the city."

:: In other developments, gunmen have kidnapped three members of the family of Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.

The premier's cousin, his wife and another relative were taken from their home in Baghdad.



http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253370.jpg
Step By Step
US Army soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division sweep through an abandoned house during heavy fighting in Fallujah.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253374.jpg
House By House
The city is home to 300,000 people but most fled in recent weeks as the American troops gathered outside.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253373.jpg
Night Fire
The dark skies were lit up during the overnight bombardment of the city.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253376.jpg
Red Hot
An American watches a burning enemy position which had been hit by grenade launcher.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253385.jpg
Look-Out
Soldiers from the 1st Infantry smash windows to take up fighting positions.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253377.jpg
Shoot Out
The position gives the troops a vantage point overlooking the street below.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253382.jpg
Outskirts
Further back, soldiers were dug into trenches around Fallujah.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253386.jpg
Abandoned
Another deserted home provides shelter for an American soldier.

[sp2c]

good job guys

[seruriermarshal]

Good news !

[Skullknight]

People need to be prepared when final casualty figures are released. It is much higher than 11 Americans KIA and 25 wounded. A BBC correspondant in one incident saw 5 dead American marines on the ground.

[American Patriot]

There will be many more major battles against Islamist terrorists in Iraq but that is a much better strategy than getting blown up by IEDs every day and letting the terrorists roam free.

[panzerjager]

People need to be prepared when final casualty figures are released. It is much higher than 11 Americans KIA and 25 wounded. A BBC correspondant in one incident saw 5 dead American marines on the ground.

You got a link?

[aartamen]

People need to be prepared when final casualty figures are released. It is much higher than 11 Americans KIA and 25 wounded. A BBC correspondant in one incident saw 5 dead American marines on the ground.

Which does not prove anything.

[szr]

They found at least one of the terrorist "hostage slaughterhouses", according to one Iraqi commander.

[American Patriot]

It's BS of course, the 'BBC correspondent' is an journalist who lives in Fallujah.

[moughoun]

People need to be prepared when final casualty figures are released. It is much higher than 11 Americans KIA and 25 wounded. A BBC correspondant in one incident saw 5 dead American marines on the ground.
I'd be careful with the BBC on military matter's they are not good at it, but your right, the casualtie's will be higher, it's war, that's what happen's :|

[futurepilot2004]

Has anyone else sen the videophone footage from falluja thats been shown on British tv, the fighting is incredably fierce. The footage showed rpg hits on US postions and at least one marine who suffered serious head wounds(particulary to his eyes). The fighting was such that I doubt there will be less than a dozen fatalities on the US side.

[moughoun]

aperently 2/3 abram's are on fire in the city centre

[Federalist]

aperently 2/3 abram's are on fire in the city centre

You got a link?

[moughoun]

aperently 2/3 abram's are on fire in the city centre

You got a link?
it was on sky news, but it's not up on their site yet

[Argyll]

I heard this this morning but nothing has been confirmed,I did see a sky news camera capture an RPG strike on an M1 earlier......no fatalities and the tank made it back to the harbour area.

[Makaveli]

If ya got any videos post em plz. :) hooah

[Fee Fi Fo Fum]

Has anyone else sen the videophone footage from falluja thats been shown on British tv, the fighting is incredably fierce. The footage showed rpg hits on US postions and at least one marine who suffered serious head wounds(particulary to his eyes). The fighting was such that I doubt there will be less than a dozen fatalities on the US side.

yep i seen it this morning on sky news... i hope it makes it to the internet... very good video

[Scottie]

'SLAUGHTER HOUSES' FOUND


http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253884.jpg
Hostage videos have become common

Iraqi troops have found a number of houses in Fallujah where hostages appear to have been kept and subsequently killed.

The find came as US and Iraqi forces continued their sweep through the city, now claiming to control 70 per cent of it.


An Iraqi military official said that the houses included CDs and records of people who had been taken captive.


Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan, commander of Iraqi forces in the battle, said the houses were located in the northern part of Fallujah, where US officials had expected to meet their toughest resistance.

"We have found hostage slaughter houses in Fallujah that were used by these people (kidnappers) and the black clothing that they used to wear to identify themselves, hundreds of CDs and whole records with names of hostages," he said.

He was unsure if the hostage records included the names of missing British aide worker Margaret Hassan or missing French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.

In the assault on the city, US tanks met fierce resistance as they rolled into the centre of the rebel stronghold.

They came under heavy fire from machine guns and rocket propelled grenades along Highway 10, the main road through the town.

The Pentagon says at least 11 US and two Iraqi soldiers have died in Operation Phantom Fury, which began on Monday.


http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253768.jpg
US troops advance


Some 10,000 US Marines and 2,000 Iraqi troops are involved in the offensive.

Just before dawn Iraqi troops raised their national flag over the main police station in a clear sign the rebels were on the run.

Sky News correspondent David Chater, who is travelling with the US Marines, said the raising of the flag filled the Iraqi soldiers with great pride.

"They have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with US Marines and they have more than proved their worth," he said.

Overall, resistance has not been as strong as expected - it is thought several thousand insurgents have either retreated to the south of the city or have fled.

Lt Gen Thomas Metz, the officer in charge of the operation, said it was safe to assume terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi had also left.

Another officer said the Marines expect to be in complete control of Fallujah by Friday if the attack continues on course.

He added it would take up to a week to make the northeast corner of Fallujah safe "and at least 10 days to clear the city."

:: In other developments, gunmen have kidnapped three members of the family of Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.

The premier's cousin, his wife and another relative were taken from their home in Baghdad.

[wulfstan]

Here's some footage, go to the video section to the right of the page;


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3998049.stm

[aartamen]

Some 170-180 foreigners have been kidnapped so far. Nobody counts the Iraqis it seems. 2/3 got away alive some way or another.

[shrek]

The Big Red 1 still kickin' ass and takin' names baby!!!

[Meph]

Noone stops the Big Red 1.

[Skullknight]

:lol: You guys are such morons. You are like little teenage girls who are so insecure you get offended by every little statement. Centcom has already said they aren't releasing full Fallujah casualties for information depravation purposes.

[moughoun]

20 ING soldier's have been captured, they've been paraded on tv

[wulfstan]

That's right. If they relased info on how and where people got injured/killed, the rebels would have intel on how effective their fire was, and would probably repeat the tactics etc. It's not rocket science.

[Fee Fi Fo Fum]

20 ING soldier's have been captured, they've been paraded on tv

just seen this on Sky news with a video... would they not be able to find out where the unit went missing? and then search houses around that area.....?

[Locked N Loaded]

I saw the video of them claiming ING soldiers were captured. NOT one had their faces to the camera. All it shows is an Insurgent in black reading something and the backs of what the clown reading claims are captured Iraqi Soldiers. Until it has been confirmed, i'm not buying it!

Lets give it time to play out before jumping to conclusions, it could just be propaganda. I don't trust those f***ers...... :fork:

<img src=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/rdonlyres/0BE90EFF-D28A-4A41-837A-F6083F605BD0/54164/F08D6DEA584446D7A41F35C7B74666F2.jpg>

A video grab......... :roll:

Aljazeera has received a videotape showing an armed group calling itself the Falluja Mujahidin holding 20 Iraqi national guards it claims to have captured in Falluja. The captors pledged not to kill the men but threatened to kill any national guard it might capture in future.The videotape shows armed men with their faces concealed, pointing guns at a group of men wearing Iraqi national guards uniforms with their backs to the camera.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0BE90EFF-D28A-4A41-837A-F6083F605BD0.htm


L n L

[seruriermarshal]

aperently 2/3 abram's are on fire in the city centre

Media think allies lose a tank when a rpg attack .


20 ING soldier's have been captured, they've been paraded on tv

I see that , but I remember some terrorists can wear like Iraq ING , and why they face to the wall ? Early video , never show INGs face to the wall .

:roll:

[seruriermarshal]

I forgot those terrorists said they hold 35 U.S. soldiers but why they don't show that ?

:roll:

[Michael RVR]

I think that ^^ was a mistake in translation.

But in any case, its not that hard (apparently) to get hold of ING uniforms, they could just as easily all be terrorists themselves. ;)

[seruriermarshal]

I think that ^^ was a mistake in translation.

But in any case, its not that hard (apparently) to get hold of ING uniforms, they could just as easily all be terrorists themselves. ;)

Sorry

:oops:

[Aerosoul]

Yeah that's what I thought about. Not one had their face to the camera. And the uniforms, well, they can't be that hard to get.

Think about all the innocent people they've beheaded, and how they had them face the camera and of course showing close-up when they actually "do it" (to avoid sensitive wording). And now they got these alleged Iraqi soldiers', whose faces aren't even shown.

Perhaps they really are Iraqi soldiers, but I get the feeling they're not.

We've got 70% or more of the city under control again, and I heard they're basically just cleaning up the stragglers now. Looks like that showdown people (including myself) were expecting in the city's center won't be happening after all, thank God.

I don't want to be too early here in saying this, but Hoorah to the troops and commanders for a seemingly brilliantly planned and executed op.

[hood]

Best photo so far:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40510000/jpg/_40510441_minigun-203.jpg

[Pooga]

Holy poo. That's not a regular Army guy eh?

[wreck]

Holy poo. That's not a regular Army guy eh?
No, he's delta rofl

[Scottie]

IRAQI GUARDS 'CAPTURED'

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253948.jpg
The video of the captured Iraqis

Insurgents claim to have seized 20 members of the Iraqi National Guard in the city of Fallujah.

A video shows masked rebels pointing rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers at a group of men who are wearing National Guard uniforms and stand with their backs to the camera.


"The resistance and mujahideen in the City of Mosques were able to capture more than 20 people of the so-called National Guard that helped the occupation forces," a masked insurgent read from a statement

The video was released as US and Iraqi forces continued their offensive in Fallujah, claiming to have taken control of 70 per cent of the city.

In the assault on the city, US tanks met fierce resistance as they rolled into the centre of the rebel stronghold.

They came under heavy fire from machine guns and rocket propelled grenades along Highway 10, the main road through the town.

The Pentagon says at least 11 US and two Iraqi soldiers have died in Operation Phantom Fury, which began on Monday.

Just before dawn Iraqi troops raised their national flag over the main police station in a clear sign the rebels were on the run.




US troops advance


Overall, resistance has not been as strong as expected - it is thought several thousand insurgents have either retreated to the south of the city or have fled.

Lt Gen Thomas Metz, the officer in charge of the operation, said it was safe to assume terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi had also left.

Another officer said the Marines expect to be in complete control of Fallujah by Friday if the attack continues on course.

He added it would take up to a week to make the northeast corner of Fallujah safe "and at least 10 days to clear the city."

:: In other developments, so-called 'slaughter houses' where hostages where taken and subsequently killed have been found in Fallujah.

:: Gunmen have kidnapped three members of the family of Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.

The premier's cousin, his wife and another relative were taken from their home in Baghdad.

:: Ten people were killed and at leastt 15 others injured when a car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint in an eastern area of Baghdad.

[OB Kenobi]

Falluja troops under heavy fire
BBC News

US marines in Falluja have come under sustained attack from several different directions in the headquarters they have set up in the Iraqi city.

The BBC's Paul Wood, who is at the scene, said there was sniper fire from four or five points on the horizon.

The insurgents may have regrouped, he says, after US-led troops took over large parts of the city.

Another BBC correspondent says troops have pulled back from the city hospital, captured on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, two US Cobra helicopters were hit by small-arms and rocket fire in separate incidents and forced to land.

The crews of both aircraft were rescued unhurt, the US military said, but some reports suggest one of the pilots was hit with small-arms fire.

In other developments in Iraq:

* At least 17 people were killed in a car bomb in a busy Baghdad shopping area.

* US-led troops find three Iraqi contractors and an Iraqi taxi-driver in Falluja believed to be held as hostages

* Masked insurgents in the northern city of Mosul attack several police stations and loot weapons and ammunition, before setting at least two of them on fire

* Kirkuk Governor Abdulrahman Mustafa escapes an assassination attempt in the northern city, but several people are injured in the bomb attack on his convoy.

House-to-house

Our correspondent says the US marines have had to call in four air strikes as they came under heavy fire in central Falluja.

Insurgents appear to have got to the perimeter of the headquarters, he says.

At the same time, a rifle company of marines has been pushing out into the city, going literally house to house to try to clear out the insurgents.

But the company came under continuous fire as soon as it left the base.

US-led forces said earlier on Thursday they had rid more than 70% of the city of insurgents in the battle.

Pockets of resistance

The rebels are said to be disorganised and leaderless, but still dangerous.

US forces say they have taken control of the district of Jolan, just north of the centre.

However, a witness told the BBC that US forces were still fighting for control there at midday.

Villages to the west of the city, thought by the US to be clear of insurgents, are also reporting sniper, mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire.

Concerns are growing about the humanitarian situation in and around Falluja.

Red Crescent spokeswoman Firdoos al-Ubadi said Falluja was a "disaster", with doctors unable to reach most Iraqi casualties and medical equipment virtually non-existent.

There is little information on the number of military or civilian casualties in Falluja.

At least 13 US troops have been killed so far, according to military reports pieced together by *******.

[vampireuk]

Despite your fondest wishes the Marines are not going to lose OB, do us all a favour and sit in front of a nuclear train :roll:

[aartamen]

18 killed 68 wounded US, 5 killed and 34 wounded Iraq. Not going to link anything, call it a rumour.

[Sayeret]

Everyone just ignore OB Kenobi, nothing your going to say is going to make him change his mind. He has already shown us that he supports terrorism, so you might as well just ignore him.

[OB Kenobi]

Despite your fondest wishes the Marines are not going to lose OB, do us all a favour and sit in front of a nuclear train :roll:

I don't have any doubt that they will win this battle. There are going to be some casualties, I estimate about 100 at most (based on the first Fallujah assault), and the insurgents will eventually be pacified. Then if Bush wants to continue pummelling Iraq into submission, he'll have to repeat the process in Ramadi, Mosul, Najaf (yet again), and pretty much every single city in Iraq except the Kurdish areas. Fallujah has been cordoned off, yet Iraq-wide attacks have not diminshed, that's all the info you need to know to see that Fallujah isn't what Bush claimed it was.

Oh, weren't we supposed to have been looking for Zarqawi there? What happened to that? Sort of like Bin Laden and Saddam's WMD, isn't it? We're told it is imperative to do something, then find out the reasons for it were exaggerated. That makes me think there are alterior motives involved.



18 Americans killed, 178 wounded in Fallujah campaign
By Associated Press

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) Eighteen U.S. troops have been killed and 178 wounded in action since the start of the assault on Fallujah, the U.S. command said Thursday. Five allied Iraqi troops have also been killed and 34 wounded.

The U.S. military announced the figures as commanders in Fallujah estimated that some 600 insurgents have been killed in the offensive, which began Monday night. The commanders cautioned that the number was a rough estimate.

Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the operation was ''ahead of schedule'' and he saluted ''the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines and our Iraq comrades'' taking part in the fight.

''Today our forces are conducting deliberate clearing operations within the city, moving from house to house, building to building looking for arms caches, insurgents,'' he said.

Natonski initially said 69 Americans have been wounded in the campaign. The military statement later said it was issuing an updated number.

Natonski also said he had visited a ''slaughter house'' in the northern Jolan neighborhood where hostages were held and possibly killed by militants.

He described a small room with no windows and just one door. Inside were two thin mattresses and straw mats covered in blood, he said.

There was also a computer, computer disks, and a wheelchair, ''which we believe was used to move the prisoners around in. We believe they were bound and moved around the complex in the wheelchair.''

He said intelligence personnel are investigating the site.

The presence of the ''slaughter house'' was first disclosed Wednesday by the Iraqi commander, Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan.

[Pooga]

Bush lied that Zarqawi even existed!!!!

omg omgomg bUHS lied Zarqikaiw exits!!!111

[Scottie]

'ALMOST UNDER CONTROL'

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1254244.jpg
Fallujah burns after firefight

The US military says it has gained control of most of Fallujah, trapping insurgents in the southern part of the Iraqi city.


With the offensive entering its fourth day, military bosses said they were hopeful the operation could be over by the weekend.

"They can't go north because that's where we are," said Master Sergeant Roy Meek.

"They can't go west because of the Euphrates river and they can't go east because we have a huge presence there. So they are cornered in the south."

The number of US troops injured has risen from 69 to 178, with the death toll staying at 18.


US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said 600 insurgents had been killed, although that figure has not been independently verified, and it is not known how many civilians have been killed.

US troops say they are meeting dwindling resistance, although there is still fierce fighting in the south.

A video was released on Thursday showing a man who, it is claimed, had been shackled and was near to starving when he was discovered by troops.

While much of Fullujah is under control, the operation has triggered violence in other parts of Iraq.

Seventeen people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a busy street in Baghdad during rush hour and militants went on an armed rampage in Mosul.



SOLDIERS DESCRIBE ACTION

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1253687.jpg
US soldiers in Fallujah

US soldiers have been speaking about the bloody street battles that are taking place in Fallujah.

They said the Iraqi rebels were outgunned but were tenacious.


Many militants are hiding out in mosques, and the soldiers have been ordered not to try to enter due to religious reasons.

Instead, they are waiting for the Iraqi army - fellow Muslims - to move into position.

The soldiers said the rebels were also lurking inside crumbling houses and apartment buildings, shooting at the soldiers during breaks in the US shelling.

One US Marine Corps officer said although the rebels were fighting hard, the resistance was not well organised.

At least 10,000 US troops have fanned out inside the city since the assault began on Monday, backed by 2,000 Iraqi soldiers.

Although they have been dodging sniper fire and avoiding ****y-trapped buildings, they have moved with greater ease than expected through the city.

Their enemy is believed to number up to 2,500 gunmen, some loyal to Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

The Jordanian terrorist is behind a spate of bomb attacks and beheadings.

There are no clear figures about how many civilians have been caught in the crossfire.

However, two-thirds of Fallujah's estimated 300,000-strong population is thought to have fled ahead of the fighting.

[Argyll]

I don't have any doubt that they will win this battle. There are going to be some casualties, I estimate about 100 at most (based on the first Fallujah assault), and the insurgents will eventually be pacified. Then if Bush wants to continue pummelling Iraq into submission, he'll have to repeat the process in Ramadi, Mosul, Najaf (yet again), and pretty much every single city in Iraq except the Kurdish areas. Fallujah has been cordoned off, yet Iraq-wide attacks have not diminshed, that's all the info you need to know to see that Fallujah isn't what Bush claimed it was.

Erm excuse me ,but nobody claimed every insurgent in Iraq was gathered in Fallujah so lets go and get em,Fallujah was the staging point for Operations in and around Baghdad,but there you go again with more Intelligence reports that those actually in country,are you some kind of CIA/SOG/SAD operative..........because you seem to be the only one who really knows what actually goes on in Iraq!! :roll:

Oh, weren't we supposed to have been looking for Zarqawi there? What happened to that? Sort of like Bin Laden and Saddam's WMD, isn't it? We're told it is imperative to do something, then find out the reasons for it were exaggerated. That makes me think there are alterior motives involved.

Who's this wee?........not you oh spineless one,it's your countrys Armed Services,who are risking their lives and limbs,just so that ungreatful bastids like you can call em baby killers and worse....as far as I'm aware I don't believe the objective in Fallujah was Zarqawi,and it would have been folly to think he'd sit there during the build up and await a possibility of capture,and I'm pretty certain the planners of this Op knew this too,you really are pretty naive when it comes to tactical situations,thank Christ you're not a staff officer!!

[Maverick77]

Yeah im tired of seeing the word WE on here by people who sit at a ****in desk all day and say "were" when refering to some of the gretest men on earth fighting and dying in some iraqi ****hole.


YOU have done **** all
THEY have done everything

there is no we

[Luxembourger]

On BBC TV : insrugents try to break the cordon.

[hood]

There's no "I" in Team America! rofl

[KB]

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US marines have found alive a Syrian driver in the restive Iraqi city of Fallujah who was taken hostage with two French journalists almost three months ago, a military spokeswoman said.

She added, however, that the military had no information on the whereabouts of Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro newspaper, who were abducted in Iraq on August 20.

[KB]

By Jackie Spinner, Karl Vick and Omar Fekeiki, Washington Post Foreign Service

FALLUJAH, Iraq Nov. 11 -- U.S. forces pushed toward a corner of Fallujah where commanders said insurgents may be preparing to make a last stand, as soldiers and civilians uncovered evidence of atrocities committed by the foreign and Iraqi guerrillas who controlled the city for nearly seven months.

In the industrial area on Fallujah's south side, residents said Thursday that the bodies of 20 foreign fighters had been found outside a truck repair shop, many killed by a single shot to the head. Insurgents native to Fallujah said the foreigners were executed for deserting their positions when the U.S.-led assault on the city began Monday night.

In the northern half of the city, now largely under the control of U.S. and Iraqi forces, Marines making a door-to-door sweep on Wednesday found a bruised, starving man chained to the wall of a house. The man, who identified himself as a taxi driver from nearby Abu Ghraib, said he had been kidnapped by men who refused to give him food or water and beat him with electrical cords during 10 days of captivity.

Military commanders said Marine and Army units were continuing to battle pockets of insurgents throughout the city as they pushed toward Fallujah's southern residential districts. Troops on foot patrol traded fire with guerrillas, then scurried for cover behind concrete walls and buildings, returning fire that rang through the otherwise deserted streets.

The U.S. military said 18 of its troops had been killed and 178 wounded during four days of fighting in Fallujah. Five Iraqi troops were reported killed and 24 wounded in the same period.

A U.S. military spokeswoman said 102 seriously wounded soldiers from around Iraq had been flown to the main U.S. military hospital in Germany on Thursday, joining 125 who arrived Monday through Wednesday.

Numbers of insurgent and civilian casualties could not be independently determined, but a military spokesman in Baghdad, Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, said an estimated 600 rebels had been killed so far, the Associated Press reported.

The ******* news agency reported that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in El Salvador (news - web sites) at the start of a week-long trip through Latin America, said that although some insurgents likely fled Fallujah before the offensive, "we also know that there are a number of hundreds that didn't, and have been killed. Others have been captured."

But officials cautioned that despite the large number of casualties, the insurgency would continue elsewhere. Bryan Whitman, a Defense Department spokesman in Washington, called the military's success in Fallujah "an important milestone" but said it by no means marked the end of the insurgency.

U.S. troops reported that Fallujah was laced with ****y traps, including the rudimentary bombs the military calls improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, tucked into rubble and garbage. The troops reported uncovering large stockpiles of weapons, some of them hidden in mosques.

Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said U.S. forces "respect the law of the war, unlike the other side, who uses mosques. In almost every single mosque in Fallujah, we've found an arms cache. We've found IED factories. . . . We've also seen the use of schools for the storage of weapons. This is the enemy that we fight. It doesn't respect the religious mosques or the children's schools."

Asked at a news conference at a camp outside Fallujah if troops expected to find more insurgents in the city, Natonski said yes, "And we will kill them."

Before the offensive began, Fallujah police announced that 157 civilian families remained in the city, whose population is normally about 250,000. On Wednesday, those who had survived the fighting found leaflets dropped by U.S. aircraft offering safe passage out of the city.

They emerged to the stench of burning flesh, on streets littered with broken bricks and scores of bodies, some subjected to such heat that they had melted. Dead fish floated on the Euphrates River, brought to the surface by mortar shells that insurgents had fired at U.S. positions on the river's western bank.

In a charity hospital operating in tents because its building was damaged by bombing, a young Arab fighter writhed in agony while blood seeped from his ears, eyes, nose and mouth. A doctor said the hospital, donated by the United Arab Emirates, counted 32 civilian wounded by Wednesday, including nine women and four children.

As civilians filed out of the city, scores of fighters put down their guns and joined them, residents said. Several told a witness that they were not quitting the war, but rather moving to open a second front in Baqubah, an insurgent hotbed northeast of Baghdad.

As the new refugees recounted the events of recent days and weeks, a picture of the battle from the insurgents' side began to emerge. Witnesses described an insurgency fractured by distrust and rivalries between locals and foreigners, and visibly shaken by the thunderous U.S. assault.

The foreigners found slain Thursday in southern Fallujah were described as foot soldiers with Monotheism and Jihad, a guerrilla group headed by Jordanian Abu Musab Zarqawi that now calls itself al Qaeda in Iraq. In the plans developed by insurgent leaders for a coordinated defense of the city, Zarqawi's fighters were to man bunkers in two neighborhoods, according to witnesses. Others were to be defended by various Iraqi insurgent groups, including the First Army of Mohammad and Ansar al-Sunna Army.

But residents said strains between the local insurgents and the foreigners quickly turned into a deep schism under the intense pressure of the U.S.-led offensive. When a senior Zarqawi commander was found dead of a bullet to the head during the battle, debate ensued over whether he was killed from a distance by a U.S. sniper or at close range by an Iraqi insurgent, residents said.

Residents said everyone in the city, including the insurgents, was stunned by the firepower the Americans brought to the battle. Guerrillas counted 40 armored vehicles approaching their positions as night fell Monday.

The insurgents suffered their worst single loss -- at least 50 dead -- counterattacking U.S. forces who had taken the Rawdha Muhammediya mosque that had served as the insurgency's headquarters, witnesses said. The witnesses said they also counted as many as 10 American bodies.

"The confrontation with the American Army, which is the most powerful military organization in the world, is itself a great victory for us," said Abdullah Janabi, head of the mujaheddin shura, the council that had ruled Fallujah as a self-appointed government since April. "We were proud enough that Fallujah . . . was able to fight and confront America for seven months and still force the Americans and the Iraqi government to sit down and negotiate."

The kidnap victim discovered Wednesday by Marines was shackled to a wall by his wrists and ankles, according to Maj. Francis Piccoli, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. When the Marines entered the house, the driver, who speaks little English, called out "Uncle, uncle" to communicate with the troops.

Video footage shot by an ABC crew showed the man, shirtless and wrapped in a wool Marine-issue blanket, saying through an interpreter that when his captors fled, he told them he would die without food or water. They responded: "We brought you here to die."

In the video footage, the man, still wearing handcuffs, said he had been kidnapped while walking through Abu Ghraib. Two men grabbed him and shoved him into a car, he said.

[KB]

By DEXTER FILKINS, NY Times

Published: November 12, 2004


FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 11 - The stars began to glimmer through a wan yellow-gray sunset over Falluja on Thursday evening. The floury dust in the air and a skyline of broken minarets and smashed buildings combined for the only genuine postcard image this country has to offer for now.

Sitting on a third-story roof, Staff Sgt. Eric Brown, his lip bleeding, peered through the scope of his rifle into the haze. Moments before, a lone bullet had whizzed past his face and smashed a window behind him. "God, I hate this place, the way the sun sets," Sergeant Brown said.

Sgt. Sam Williams said, "I wish I could see down the street."

But these marines did see a black flag pop up all at once above a water tower about 100 yards away, then a second flag somewhere in the gloaming above a rooftop. And the shots began, in a wave this time, as men bobbed and weaved through alleyways and sprinted across the street. "He's in the road, he's in the road, shoot him!" Sergeant Brown shouted. "Black shirt!" someone else yelled. "Due south!"

The flags are the insurgents' answer to two-way radios, their way of massing the troops and - in a tactic that goes back at least as far as Napoleon - concentrating fire on an enemy. Set against radio waves, the flags have one distinct advantage: they are terrifying.

The insurgents are coordinating their attacks at a time when they have nowhere left to run. American forces have pushed south of Highway 10, the boulevard that runs east to west and approximately bisects Falluja. American intelligence officers believe that many of the insurgents have retreated as far as the Shuhada, a relatively modern residential area that is the southernmost neighborhood in Falluja.

But beyond Shuhada is only the open desert, patrolled by the United States Army. So the insurgents are turning and fighting. And at night, they are setting up deadly ambushes in the moonless pitch blackness of Falluja's labyrinthine streets.

Going straight up the gut in the center of the American advance on Thursday was Bravo Company, First Battalion, Eighth Regiment of the First Marine Expeditionary Force. Those marines, including Sergeants Brown and Williams, started their day by getting mortared in a building they had captured at Highway 10 and Thurthar Street.

The building's windows were blown out. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed. The mortars drew closer and closer and then stopped, as if the insurgents were temporarily short of ammo. "I thought, 'This is it,' " said Senior Corpsman Kevin Markley.

At about 2 p.m., the company walked 100 yards east along the highway, then turned south into the Sinai neighborhood, with its car garages and fix-it shops as well as concealed weapons caches and bomb-making factories.

Immediately, shooting broke out, pinning down the marines for an hour. Finally they moved south to a mosque with the stub of a blasted minaret. An armored vehicle drove up from the rear and dropped its hatch. Out walked a group of blinking, disoriented Iraqi national guardsmen. They had been brought in only to search mosques.

Meantime, the marines went to the rooftop, saw the flags and got into a firefight. It was silenced when they called in a 500-pound bomb from above onto a house where some of the insurgents had concentrated. The strike was so close that the marines had to leave the roof or risk being killed by shrapnel.

The Iraqi guardsmen left the mosque and trooped back into the vehicle, which drove off. Soon the marines were headed south again, through a narrow alley between deserted houses.

"Enemy personnel approaching your position in white vehicle with RPG's," someone said over a radio, referring to rocket-propelled grenades. A few seconds later, the same voice said: "More enemy personnel approaching your position from the south."

The alley exploded with gunfire and RPG rounds. Somehow the company commander, Capt. Read Omohundro, got two tanks in place to fire down the alley. They let loose with a volley and a building crumbled.

Captain Omohundro turned to a lieutenant and said, "Are they dead?"

"They must be, sir," came the reply.

But the insurgents had gotten off an RPG round and disabled one tank; the other tank mysteriously stopped working as well.

The company had moved 500 yards south. They regrouped in the pitch blackness and pushed on at about 11:30 p.m. without the tanks, trying to keep up with the rest of the front, but after moving 25 feet they were attacked again in what appeared to be a well-organized ambush.

Two more tanks came in, but one had a problem with its global-positioning system unit. There was an hour's delay. The 50 or so men of the First Platoon, which had taken casualties, started bickering. Then they moved forward, behind the tanks.

At 1:30 a.m., now roughly 700 yards south of Highway 10, they stopped and entered a house, intending to find a place to sleep. There was a huge boom inside. "Oh no! Oh no!" someone shouted. "My leg!" someone else screamed. "My leg!"

They looked further around the house and found tunnels underneath. They retreated and a tank fired rounds into the house, which caught fire.

They looked for another place to sleep.

[KB]

From Paul Wood/BBC correspondent embedded with the US Marines

"...And when they see what they believe to be militants - and these marines are incredibly calm under fire, they are almost unflinching - they do wait until they see a guy with a gun but when they see that, they open up with everything they have got and the question is, how much collateral damage is there going to be?"

Some day maybe someone will develop JDAM/heat seeking 5.56 rounds that can track down and kill the bad guys without collateral damage... until then I guess the BBC correspondent will have to fret over it. Haven't noticed him fretting over the executed civilians and hostages, or the extensive ****y traps that are laid throughout the city.

[moughoun]

From Paul Wood/BBC correspondent embedded with the US Marines

"...And when they see what they believe to be militants - and these marines are incredibly calm under fire, they are almost unflinching - they do wait until they see a guy with a gun but when they see that, they open up with everything they have got and the question is, how much collateral damage is there going to be?"
Some day maybe someone will develop JDAM/heat seeking 5.56 rounds that can track down and kill the bad guys without collateral damage... until then I guess the BBC correspondent will have to fret over it. Haven't noticed him fretting over the executed civilians and hostages, or the extensive ****y traps that are laid throughout the city.
he kind of contradict's himself there, one second they are super careful the next how many non-combatent's they are killing :roll:

[panzerjager]

Excellent articles, KB. Thanks.



In the industrial area on Fallujah's south side, residents said Thursday that the bodies of 20 foreign fighters had been found outside a truck repair shop, many killed by a single shot to the head. Insurgents native to Fallujah said the foreigners were executed for deserting their positions when the U.S.-led assault on the city began Monday night.

I thought there were no foreign fighters in Iraq?

[Argyll]

Cuz BBC are full of ****!!
They were always critical of the Americans even last year during the ground war!!

[panzerjager]

Cuz BBC are full of ****!!
They were always critical of the Americans even last year during the ground war!!

And soon, 1/2 of them will be out of work. Karma?

[OB Kenobi]

Cuz BBC are full of ****!!
They were always critical of the Americans even last year during the ground war!!

Remember kids, in Argyll's world, criticizing Americans is enough to get you burned at the stake.

[Argyll]

I think the kids here believe me more than they believe you!!

Oh and for the record sphincter man,I'm no lover of ANY media when it comes to reporting from Iraq,you're word as the resident Iraqi expert,and Military expert here within the forum's is so much more informative,and your word mean diddly squat!!!

[moughoun]

Cuz BBC are full of ****!!
They were always critical of the Americans even last year during the ground war!!

Remember kids, in Argyll's world, criticizing Americans is enough to get you burned at the stake.
thank's for the patronizing tone..... :roll:

[Argyll]

Have you notice how OB Kenobi never logs in as visible,I wonder why that is? ;)


Me I do it so people don't know I'm here and I find it better when clamping down on posts pretty quickly

[Federalist]

American troops scored one of their biggest successes in the battle for Fallujah when an estimated 70 foreign fighters were killed in a massive precision artillery strike on a building in a mosque complex.

Military intelligence officers were last night trying to confirm that a "high-value target" or HVT died in the attack. The man is suspected of being a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, and responsible for marshalling hard-line insurgence from other Arab countries.


US marines set up a firing position in a building in Fallujah
The strike took place on Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the invasion of the rebel-held Sunni bastion began, after an Abrams tank commander from Phantom troop, part of the US Army's Task Force 2-2, observed large numbers of men converging on a building next to a mosque. "Guys with short brown hair, dark pants and carrying AK-47s were moving in groups of between two and five across the road to a yellow building," said Lt Neil Prakash, the tank commander.

"Then some started throwing Molotov cocktails and pouring gasoline on the road to create a smokescreen."

They apparently thought the smoke would obscure them from view.


US marines take a wounded comrade to a waiting helicopter
Lt Prakash, whose call-sign is Red 6, observed the scene through the optical sight of his tank, 2,400 metres away in an "area of responsibility" or AOR covered by the 1st Company, 8th Marines, west of Task Force 2-2's AOR on the eastern edge of the city.

The constraints of firing into another AOR, where US marines might be operating, and the danger of damaging the mosque, which would have provoked outrage in the Arab world, meant attacking the building had to be authorised at a very senior level.

A Humvee from Phantom troop fitted with a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) was moved to within two kilometres of the mosque, well inside its maximum range of 15km, to get a second opinion on what was happening. "The strike was so sensitive that it took more than an hour to approve it," said Maj John Reynolds, operations officer for 2-2. "Normally it happens in minutes."


American tanks engage insurgents on the streets of Fallujah
Lt Prakash was asked to provide a grid co-ordinate, accurate to within a metre, to minimise the chance of hitting the mosque, about 50 metres from the building.

At about 3pm, the higher authorisation came through and Lt Col Pete Newell, commanding 2-2 and with the call-sign Ramrod 6, gave the order to fire a barrage of 20 155mm high-explosive shells from howitzers about three miles away from the mosque.

Specialist James Taylor, manning the LRAS, watched the burst of shells hit.

"They landed on the left side of the building and I saw three bodies fly into the air," he said. "It was awesome."

Lt Prakash radioed that the rounds were right on target and requested 10 more to ensure maximum killing effect.

"One of the men was in a sniper position on the building," said Lt Prakash. "I saw him fall off, hit the ground and bounce up. There were about five bodies that went three, four, five storeys up in the air. I'd already counted between 40 and 50 men going into that building. There were men running out, coughing and doubling over. The second lot of rounds took them out and all those who had been crossing the road.

It is believed that Task Force 2-2 hit fighters gathered to discuss how to retreat after US forces had pushed the insurgents down from the north and in from the east.

Mobile phone intercepts and reports from Iraqi informants suggested there were 70 gunmen in the building and indicated that the very senior Zarqawi lieutenant had perished. A final assessment on who died has yet to be made.

"We are hearing reports saying that the enemy is withdrawing to a central place for a final stand," said Maj Reynolds. "It's like a *****sburg. We have surrounded the whole area."



Heh heh. When The great Satan rains fire and brimstone, it hurts. p-)

[KB]

The U.S. military says 22 U.S. and 5 Iraqi troops have been killed and 170 American soldiers wounded in Falluja.

Marine General Sattler said his forces had taken 150 fighters into custody, of whom more than a dozen were foreigners. Of those foreign fighters he said 10 were Iranians.

About 300 people had negotiated their surrrender at a mosque in Fallujah, he said, and U.S. forces were trying to determine who among them were fighters and who were non-combatants.

[Phil642]

10 were Iranians

Seems logical to me, Iran is just near and i'm sure you can find more than 1.000.000 guys ready to fight against US troops there ... cos they love American soldiers.

[1071]

http://www.alchahed.net/fal101104.htm

[Pooga]

... cos they love American soldiers.

Is that really…needed?