Troops fight through Fallujah suburbs

Backed by a barrage from warplanes and artillery, US and Iraqi troops fought their way into the western outskirts of Fallujah today, seizing a hospital and two bridges over the Euphrates River.

It was the first stage of a major assault on the Iraqi insurgent stronghold.

The US military said Iraqi troops captured 38 people, including four foreigners when they swept into the first objective: Fallujah’s main hospital, which the military and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said was under insurgent control.

Iraqi soldiers stormed through the facility, blasting open doors and pulling handcuffed patients into the halls in search of gunmen.

Allawi said he had given the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, considered the strongest bastion of Iraq’s Sunni insurgents. “We are determined to clean Fallujah of terrorists,” he said.

Allawi initially said 38 people were killed in the hospital seizure, but the US military later said the people were captured.

Throughout the morning, artillery and mortars pounded targets in Fallujah and on its outskirts, and a US jet swooped low to fire rockets at insurgent positions.

An AC-130 gunship raked the city all night long with cannon fire, and before dawn, four 500-pound bombs were dropped, raising orange fireballs over the city’s rooftops.

Commanders said the toughest fight was yet to come: when American forces cross to the east bank of the Euphrates and enter the main part of Fallujah - including the Jolan neighbourhood where insurgent defences are believed the strongest.

In the first foray across the river into Fallujah proper, US marines secured an apartment building in the north-western corner of the city by noon, said marines Captain Brian Heatherman.

“The Marines have now gained a foothold in the city,” said Heatherman, aged 32. He said there were some Iraqi casualties as the troops seized the building, where marines found an improvised bomb hanging above a doorway – one of the many variety of booby traps they expect to come across in the urban battle.

Marine commanders have warned the offensive against Fallujah could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam war. Some 10,000 marines,

US soldiers and Iraqi forces are around Fallujah, where commanders estimate around 3,000 insurgents are dug in. More than half the civilian population of some 300,000 people is believed to have fled already.

US and Iraqi commanders have vowed to stamp out Sunni Muslim guerrillas controlling Fallujah and other cities north and west of Baghdad ahead of vital January elections.

Allawi said that emergency measures would be imposed on Fallujah and Ramadi, another insurgent stronghold nearby, beginning at 6pm (3pm Irish time) today.

Roads and government facilities in the two cities will be closed, all weapons will be banned, Iraq’s borders with Syria and Jordan will be closed and Baghdad’s international airport will be shut down for 48 hours.

Allawi’s government announced on Sunday that it was imposing a 60 day state of emergency across Iraq – except for the Kurdish-run north.

The US military reported its first casualties of the offensive – two Marines killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates. Ten Iraqis were killed and 11 others injured during the overnight barrage in Fallujah, according to doctors.

Clerics in Fallujah denounced Iraqi troops participating in the assault, calling them the “occupiers’ lash on their fellow countrymen”.

The US military said insurgents had been in control of Fallujah General Hospital – located on the west bank of the Euphrates – and were “forcing the doctors there to release propaganda and false information”.

It underlined in a statement that when hospitals “are used for military purposes they lose … protected status”.

While US forces sealed off the area, Iraqi troops moved into the hospital - “capturing four foreigners and killing 38 persons”, Allawi said initially. Two of those captured were Moroccans, he said, adding they “were stationed in the hospital in order to carry out terrorist actions”.

Hospital chief Dr Salih al-Issawi said he asked US officers to allow doctors and ambulances go inside the main part of the city to help the wounded but they refused.

The offensive came after government negotiators reported the failure of last-minute peace talks.

Allawi said that “terrorists” in the city were not willing to make peace.

“We have no other option but to take the necessary measures to protect Iraqi people from these killers and liberate Fallujah,” he said.

Allawi, a Shiite Muslim, has faced strong pressure from within Iraq’s Sunni community to avoid an all-out assault.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group, condemned the assault on Fallujah. The group has threatened to boycott elections.

Meanwhile a car bomb hit a civilian convoy on the main road to Baghdad airport today.

Witnesses reported seeing two dead Westerners lying on the ground while three victims were airlifted away. Two 4X4 vehicles were caught in the explosion.