US continues assault on rebel stronghold

US troops today pounded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah with airstrikes and tank fire, as the Iraqi government appealed to residents to expel “foreign terrorists” to prevent an all-out attack.

Yesterday, a suicide driver in Baghdad exploded a car near a police patrol, killing at least six people and wounding 26.

A mortar shell also exploded at a Baghdad sports stadium yesterday, minutes before interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi arrived to inspect a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters. Insurgents, meanwhile, ambushed and killed nine Iraqi policemen as they were returning home from a training course in Jordan.

Separately, the most feared militant group in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad, said in an internet statement that it would take orders from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida from now on.

Throughout the day, the crackle of automatic weapons fire and the thud of artillery echoed across Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, as fighting between American troops and insurgents raged on the eastern and southern edges of the city, witnesses said.

Clashes blocked the main road leading to Baghdad, and plumes of smoke rose above the flat-roofed houses in the city’s Askari and Shuhada neighbourhoods.

Witnesses said a Humvee was seen burning in the eastern edge of the city, and hospital officials reported three civilians were killed. The US military reported no casualties.

US Marines said yesterday that they used small arms, tanks, artillery, mortars and seven precision airstrikes against Fallujah insurgents. The Marines said that insurgents were seen taking refuge in a mosque but troops did not fire on them.

American forces have stepped up attacks around Fallujah since peace talks between the Iraqi government and Fallujah clerics broke down last Thursday after city leaders rejected Allawi’s demand to hand over “foreign terrorists,” including the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi.

Fallujah clerics insist al-Zarqawi, whose Tawhid and Jihad movement has claimed responsibility for multiple suicide car-bombings and hostage beheadings, is not in the city. Fallujah fell under the control of hard-line Islamic clerics and their armed followers after US Marines lifted a three-week siege in late April.

Despite the claim that al-Zarqawi is not in the city, a statement posted on an Islamic militant website yesterday made a rare announcement that a member of Tawhid and Jihad identified as Sheik Abu Hafs al-Libi was killed fighting the Americans in Fallujah. The claim’s authenticity could not be confirmed.

The car bombing occurred late yesterday in Baghdad’s fashionable Jadiriyah district, home to the Australian and other embassies. The Interior Ministry today said six people were killed, including three policemen, and 26 others were injured.

The explosion went off a few hundred metres from the Australian Embassy, and none of the troops in the security detachment were hurt, said Brigadier Peter Hutchinson, commander of Australian forces in the Middle East .

As the Iraqis try to reach a peaceful end to the Fallujah stand-off, the US military is believed to be drafting plans for an all-out assault on the city if negotiations fail.

In London, the Ministry of defence said the United States had asked Britain to redeploy hundreds of troops from southern Iraq amid reports the soldiers will back up the Americans in the event of a major attack on Fallujah.

Reports say the United States wants British soldiers to replace units of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines in Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon will confirm the American request today before the House of Commons and say Britain has not made a decision, a ministry spokesman said.

Allawi’s interim government renewed its call for Fallujah to surrender al-Zarqawi and others, saying their presence in “some areas and cities” is “something the government cannot accept or tolerate”.

“We call upon the sons and tribes of Fallujah to immediately expel foreign terrorists and evacuate all the city’s neighbourhoods from these murderers and their criminal supporters who want to hamper plans of reconstructing Iraq,” National Security Adviser Qassem Dawoud said in a statement.

Dawoud said “the door is still open before any initiative or effort to avoid having to use the military option”.

Elsewhere, police said nine Iraqi policemen returning from training in Jordan were ambushed and killed on Saturday in Latifiyah, an insurgent stronghold 25 miles south of Baghdad. The attackers escaped. Latifiyah is part of a belt of towns just south of the capital where kidnappings and ambushes have been common.

Along the Syrian border, overnight clashes between US troops and insurgents left four people dead and 13 others wounded, Dr. Wael al-Duleimi said yesterday from the border town of Qaim. The city is a hotbed of insurgent activity and is believed to be a major route for smuggling weapons and fighters into Iraq.

In hopes of sparing Fallujah further violence, the city’s clerics have offered to resume peace talks if the Americans stop their attacks. But the talks have deadlocked over the alleged presence of al-Zarqawi and other foreign fighters.

“We are still ready to go back to the talks and open new channels of dialogue,” said negotiator Abdul Hamid Jadou. But he said Allawi is “responsible for each drop of blood being spilled in Fallujah. This government sided with the Americans in bombing the innocent people who are fasting in Ramadan.”

Yesterday, a mortar shell exploded at a sports stadium about 15 minutes before Allawi was to arrive to inspect the guns-for-cash program. The itinerary was quickly changed and Allawi visited several other sites before arriving at the stadium.

Allawi called on Iraqis throughout the country to surrender their weapons and to respect the rule of law and to be part of the political process. The deadline for the buyback in Sadr City and other locations was extended to Tuesday, Iraqi officials said today.

More than 200 detainees were released yesterday from Abu Ghraib prison after a security review deemed them no longer a threat, the US military said. It was the fifth round of releases since a review board began work in August following a torture scandal at the detention facility.

Also yesterday, the 1st Cavalry Division said it could be days before an investigation determines what caused two Army OH-58 helicopters to crash on Saturday night in southern Baghdad, killing two soldiers and injuring two others.