US troops continue attacks on Fallujah

THE besieged Shi’ite city of Fallujah was rocked again by a series of explosions and gunfire yesterday — only hours after a heavy battle in which US warplanes and artillery pounded insurgents holed up in a slum.

Gunfire and mortar blasts could be heard for more than an hour from south-western Fallujah in the afternoon, then three thunderous explosions shook the area as warplanes circled overhead. Two black plumes of smoke rose over the area, as heavy machine-gun fire continued.

Despite three straight days of battles, US officials said they are pushing ahead with negotiations to resolve the stand-off rather than launch an all-out offensive.

Iraqi police took up posts in parts of the city, laying the groundwork for Marine patrols to begin circulating to establish control.

Hospitals reported that only two people were wounded in the fighting.

Militants, however, often do not evacuate their casualties to hospitals fearing the injured could be arrested by American forces.

“We’re going to continue to push the political track as far as it’s going to take us. And if it doesn’t take us far enough, we’re prepared to use military means,” said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

He stressed the ceasefire was continuing and Marines were not taking offensive actions but were “in a series of defensive responses” to the insurgents.

Yesterday’s fighting in Fallujah came after a heavy night battle against insurgents holed up in the northern neighbourhood of Golan, a slum area of tight alleyways.

Brig Gen Kimmitt said the battle was sparked when troops saw two trucks moving through the city with their lights off in an area where insurgents were active earlier in the day. The AC-130s destroyed the trucks, and ammunition in the trucks exploded, he said.

In other developments, Brig Gen Kimmitt said investigators have recommended administrative punishment for a number of commanders at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison after allegations of abuse of prisoners there. Six soldiers at the prison have been charged in connection with the abuse, he said.

In southern Iraq, gunmen ambushed a Ukrainian convoy outside the city of Kut, barraging it with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. One Ukrainian was killed and two wounded. Brig Gen Kimmitt said a second coalition soldier later died from his wounds.

Attacks across Iraq are down, compared with the first two weeks of April, as US officials try to find negotiated solutions at Fallujah.

But violence still flares regularly.

In northern Iraq, a US soldier was killed in an ambush on troops responding to a roadside bombing, the military reported.

The Tuesday attack was near the city of Tel Afar, 240 miles north-east of Baghdad, where a bomb hit a coalition patrol. The soldier’s death brought to 116 the number of US service members killed in combat this month, the bloodiest for American forces in Iraq.