The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 28, 2004, Page 6, Image 6
U.S, attacks insurgents
hiding in Fallujah slum
BY JAYSON KEYSER
THE.ASSOCIATE) I'ltKSS
FALLUJAH, IRAQ - U S. war
planes and artillery attacked
Sunni insurgents holed up in a
slum in a thunderous show of
force that rocked Fallujah
Tuesday, sending huge plumes of
black smoke into the night sky.
The assault came after American
troops killed 64 gunmen near the
southern city of Najaf.
An American soldier was killed
Tuesday in Baghdad, raising the
U.S. death toll for April to 115—the
same number lost during the inva
sion of Iraq that toppled Saddam
Hussein last year. Up to 1,200 Iraqis
also have been killed this month.
The second straight night of
battles in Fallujah came as the ex
tension of a fragile cease-fire end
ed in the turbulent city west of
Baghdad. Marines have been
preparing to begin patrols in the
city later this week.
Tuesday’s battle appeared far
heavier than the previous night’s
clashes, in which a Marine and
eight insurgents were killed—sug
gesting U.S. forces were trying to
wear down gunmen in the Jolan
neighborhood, a district of narrow
alleyways and ramshackle houses.
. An AC-130, a powerful gunship
that can unleash a deluge of ord
nance, joined 105mm howitzers in
opening up on insurgent targets
in the neighborhood. Gunfire and
explosions reverberated for near
ly: two hours, and an eerie orange
glow shone over the area while
showers of sparks descended like
fireworks.
; Fires were visible in the Jolan
neighborhood, and mosque loud
’ speakers elsewhere in the city
called for firefighters. U.S. aircraft
dipped white leaflets over
Fallujah before nightfall, calling
on insurgents to give up.
! “Surrender, you are surround
ed,” the leaflets said. “If you are a
terrorist, beware, because your
last day was yesterday. In order to
spare your life end your actions
arid surrender to coalition forces
PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
John D. Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, testifies before
the Senate foreign Relations Committee.
now. We are coming to arrest
you.”
Fighting also broke out in
Baghdad and in the south, where
U.S. forces are in a standoff with
militiamen loyal to radical Shiite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is
wanted on murder charges for al
legedly killing a fellow cleric.
U.S. forces killed 64 Iraqis on
Monday and Tuesday in battles
with militiamen outside the Shiite
holy city of Najaf, Brig. Gen. Mark
Kimmitt said.
The United States is trying to
avoid a resurgence of the intense
fighting ahead of June 30 — the
date for installation of a new Iraqi
government.
At the United Nations, U.N. en
voy to Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi
briefed the U.N. Security Council
on plans for a caretaker govern
ment that would take over from the
U.S.-picked Governing Council. He
also warned that there would be a
“very bloody confrontation” unless
an agreement was reached to end
fighting in Fallujah.
John Negroponte, who has been
nominated as U.S. ambassador to
Iraq, acknowledged Tuesday that
the caretaker government would
have limited powers because the
Iraqi security forces were not yet
strong enough. The United States
would keep control of security
forces, and the new government
may not have the authority to pass
laws, he told a Senate panel in
Washington.
Several U.S.-allied Iraqi leaders
demanded the government receive
full sovereignty.
Mohsen Abdel-Hamid, a Sunni
Arab on the Governing Council,
said the prospect of the United
States retaining some sovereign
ty is “not acceptable, this is totally
rejected."
If the Americans do not respect
agreements on giving complete
sovereignty, “then the Iraqi peo
ple know what route to take,” he
said.
Two nights of battles in
Fallujah have strained U.S. at
tempts to find a political way out
of the siege of the city, avoiding a
resumption of the full-fledged
fighting that killed hundreds of
Iraqis in early April. At least eight
. Marines have died in the fighting.
Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld told reporters at the
Pentagon on Tuesday that contin
uing negotiations in Fallujah was
“worth the try.”
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