Allawi gives green light for assault on Fallujah
“I gave my authority to the multinational forces, Iraqi forces. We are determined to clean Fallujah from the terrorists,” Mr Allawi told a news conference.
“I can’t say how long the operation will take but we will target the terrorist forces present in Fallujah.”
US forces have been preparing for weeks for a major assault on Fallujah and Ramadi, aimed at rooting out foreign Islamists and Saddam Hussein loyalists they say are leading a bloody insurgency gripping the country.
Mr Allawi declared a state of emergency in all but the Kurdish north of Iraq on Sunday, to help the US-backed interim government crush insurgents ahead of elections due in January but threatened by the relentless violence.
Mr Allawi said he was imposing a curfew on Fallujah and Ramadi, another Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad, and closing the capital’s international airport for 48 hours. He did not say how long the curfew would last.
Mr Allawi, who visited Iraqi troops in Fallujah later yesterday, said he had used all political means to avert an assault but had concluded insurgents in Fallujah were not interested in a peaceful solution.
“I have reached the belief that I have no other choice but to resort to extreme measures to protect the Iraqi people from these killers and to liberate the residents of Fallujah so they can return to their homes.
“I have decided to implement the National Safety Law in the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi ... the measures I will announce now will be implemented after Iftar (Ramadan evening meal) at six o’clock (3pm Irish time), God willing,” he said.
Mr Allawi tightened controls on the borders with Jordan and Syria, saying only essential goods would be allowed in.
The streets of Fallujah would be off-limits to all but emergency vehicles.
Public institutions except for hospitals and fire stations would be closed and the people of Fallujah would be banned from carrying weapons.
Iraqi forces detained 38 insurgents, including four foreign fighters, when they seized Fallujah hospital on Sunday night, Mr Allawi’s office said.
Mr Allawi had earlier said in the news conference Iraqi troops had killed 38 rebels.
US and Iraqi special forces took the hospital on the west bank of the River Euphrates, across a bridge from Fallujah proper, in the early hours of yesterday without firing a shot.
Mr Allawi accused Fallujah hospital officials of exaggerating civilian casualties from months of daily air raids, described by the US military as precision strikes against followers of al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Locals say they know nothing of Al-Zarqawi and say the air strikes bolster anti-American fury.
Mr Allawi showed maps he said were found in the possession of insurgents, marking mosques, schools, youth and health centres in Fallujah and Ramadi to be booby-trapped or used to attack US-led forces.
Their authenticity could not be verified.
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