Bombtrack
11-13-2004, 11:08 AM
Iraq says Fallujah mission 'is accomplished'
CTV.ca News Staff
An Iraqi official says the joint U.S.-Iraq operation in Fallujah "is accomplished" with about 1,000 rebel fighters dead and 200 more captured.
"The Al-Fajr operation in Iraq is accomplished," Iraqi national security adviser Qassem Dawoud said Saturday. "What is left is evil pockets which we are dealing with now."
Dawoud admits that Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and insurgent leader Abdullah al-Janabi were not caught.
He also said the majority of Fallujah's residents, about 90 per cent of the population, fled the city before the start of the mass ground assault on Monday.
Meanwhile in the northern city of Mosul, a car bomb targeted a convoy of Iraqi National Guards. An American infantry battalion was diverted from Fallujah Saturday to deal with an increase in insurgent attacks in the northern city.
Before Dawoud's annoucement, U.S. military sources said they were "pushing them against the anvil" in Fallujah, hoping to gain control of the insurgent stronghold city.
"It's a broad attack against the entire southern front," Col. Michael Formica told the Associated Press.
Two mosques in Fallujah were hit by airstrikes overnight. U.S. troops had reported sniper fire from the buildings earlier on.
Also Saturday, two U.S. marines were killed east of Fallujah by a homemade insurgent bomb.
CNN correspondent Jane Arraf reported that a U.S. warplane dropped a 500-pound bomb in Fallujah Saturday, in order to destroy an insurgent tunnel network.
After the attack, U.S. officials say there will be a house-to-house clearing operation which is meant to uncover any ****ytraps, weapons or hidden insurgents hiding in the rubble.
With files from The Associated Press
seems a bit soon
CTV.ca News Staff
An Iraqi official says the joint U.S.-Iraq operation in Fallujah "is accomplished" with about 1,000 rebel fighters dead and 200 more captured.
"The Al-Fajr operation in Iraq is accomplished," Iraqi national security adviser Qassem Dawoud said Saturday. "What is left is evil pockets which we are dealing with now."
Dawoud admits that Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and insurgent leader Abdullah al-Janabi were not caught.
He also said the majority of Fallujah's residents, about 90 per cent of the population, fled the city before the start of the mass ground assault on Monday.
Meanwhile in the northern city of Mosul, a car bomb targeted a convoy of Iraqi National Guards. An American infantry battalion was diverted from Fallujah Saturday to deal with an increase in insurgent attacks in the northern city.
Before Dawoud's annoucement, U.S. military sources said they were "pushing them against the anvil" in Fallujah, hoping to gain control of the insurgent stronghold city.
"It's a broad attack against the entire southern front," Col. Michael Formica told the Associated Press.
Two mosques in Fallujah were hit by airstrikes overnight. U.S. troops had reported sniper fire from the buildings earlier on.
Also Saturday, two U.S. marines were killed east of Fallujah by a homemade insurgent bomb.
CNN correspondent Jane Arraf reported that a U.S. warplane dropped a 500-pound bomb in Fallujah Saturday, in order to destroy an insurgent tunnel network.
After the attack, U.S. officials say there will be a house-to-house clearing operation which is meant to uncover any ****ytraps, weapons or hidden insurgents hiding in the rubble.
With files from The Associated Press
seems a bit soon