Americans delay joint patrols in flashpoint city
US forces delayed joint Iraqi-American patrols in Fallujah after three days of fighting and pressure increased on the United States to prevent an escalation of violence in the besieged city.
In violence across Iraq, a foreign civilian was shot dead in an attack on his car in the British-controlled city of Basra and a US soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad.
Three members of an Iraqi family were killed when a rocket hit a residential building in the northern city of Beiji.
US troops at the main checkpoint in and out of Fallujah opened fire on a car, killing several Iraqis but there were differing accounts of the circumstances of the attacks.
Marine Captain James Edge said a car screeched into the razorwire near the main marine checkpoint into Fallujah and gunmen inside opened fire with assault rifles on the Americans.
US troops returned fire with a Humvee-mounted heavy machine gun, killing at least three men in the car, Edge said. A fourth person was wounded but it was not clear if he was in the car or a bystander, Edge said.
In the south, a US base in the Shiite holy city of Najaf came under mortar fire today in an attack that caused no casualties but showed increasing boldness from Shiite militiamen in the city. Militiamen also attacked a US convoy passing through part of the city overnight, prompting an exchange that killed an Iraqi woman and wounded six people, hospital officials said.
The Fallujah violence, aired live on television screens with images of explosions and burning buildings, increased pressure on the United States to prevent a revival of the heavy bloodshed in Fallujah during the first two weeks of April.
“Violent military action by an occupying power against inhabitants of an occupied country will only make matters worse,” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned. “It’s definitely time, time now for those who prefer restraint and dialogue to make their voices heard.”
Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, a member of the US-appointed Governing Council, also called on the United States to stop attacks in Fallujah and said if the United States refused, his Iraqi Islamic Party would consider withdrawing from the council.
Yesterday, US warplanes dropped 500-pound, laser-guided bombs on guerrilla targets as battles broke out in several parts of the city, including areas that had been relatively quiet.
In Baghdad, US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the US strikes were limited and aimed at gunmen who were attacking Americans.
“Even though it may not look like it, there is still a determined aspiration on the part of the coalition to maintain a cease-fire and solve the situation in Fallujah by peaceful means,” he said.
The US military announced that joint US-Iraqi patrols into Fallujah would be delayed by a day, until tomorrow. The patrols were part of an effort to reduce tensions and stop marine assault of the city.
Marine Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne said that when the patrols begin “we expect hostile fire”.
“There is a cadre of bad guys that are still in Fallujah and anytime people go into Fallujah they get fired at.”
