US and Iraqi forces push into eastern Ramadi

The US military fired on suspected militants from an AC-130 gunship lingering in the sky above the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi today while hundreds of US and Iraqi troops punched into an eastern section of the violent city.

The military drive into the heart of the Sunni-led insurgency was the latest step by the combined military force to strengthen its presence in city neighbourhoods that have been no-go zones controlled by the powerful insurgency responsible for nearly 2,000 American deaths and those of thousands more Iraqis.

The AC-130 Spectre gunship fired on a gang of suspected insurgents in the initial hours of the operation, US commanders on the ground said. Six men were thought to have been killed, and sporadic exchanges of gunfire between US troos and insurgent snipers echoed during the first hours of the push.

No US casualties were initially reported.

US troops throughout the eastern Ramadi neighbourhood peered over rooftop parapets of commandeered homes in temperatures that soared well above 100 Fahrenheit, carefully watching for insurgent reconnaissance teams posing as pedestrians.

A handful of children rode by on bicycles and a few civilians roamed the largely empty streets. The city was unusually quiet as troops watched out for “peekers” – residents who might have been peering out of windows as spotters for insurgent gunmen.

Marine specialists from the Air Naval Gunfire Liison Company stayed in radio contact with pilots in F-18 Hornet jets soaring overhead. The fliers, responding in scratchy radio reports, monitored residents ambling near US positions.

The operation, launched to establish a new outpost about a half-mile deeper into the Mulaab neighbourhood, was put together to instal US and Iraqi troops solidly in a troublesome area where insurgents have frequently attacked.

Many of the two- and three-storey villas in the middle-class neighbourhood are laid out in rows, that allowed to escape unseen by running across adjacent rooftops after setting off roadside bombs.

“It’s one of the first steps to moving into areas of the city that have not had a large coalition or Iraqi presence for a long time, if ever,” said Col. Sean MacFarland, commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armoured Division that oversees the city.

Soldiers also searched dozens of homes, uncovering weapons caches and equipment used to construct roadside bombs. One resident was arrested after a cell phone was found charging in his home. There have been no telephone communications in Ramadi since insurgents destroyed mobile phone towers and the local phone centre. Mobile phones are sometimes used to trigger roadside bombs.

Munitions were also found in a soccer stadium where battles have frequently erupted. Soldiers said the bombs were kept nearby so that insurgents could quickly target routes often used by US vehicles.

“We’re in a place right now where typically fighters would have been coming through here,” said Capt. Joe Claburn, 29, of the 1st Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

“But right now we’re sitting and looking down all these alleyways, so the enemy can’t use them.”

A local mosque that had been taken over by local insurgents was also seized overnight by Iraqi troops, Claburn said. Residents had stopped attending the mosque, he said.

Soldiers expected that insurgents would eventually fight back in this city so dangerous that large swaths go unpatrolled. As soldiers dug into their positions, some took bets on how long it would take insurgents to start fighting back in force.

Residents told US soldiers that they had no electricity for the past three days and complained that children would miss their exams which are going on throughout Iraq. Loudspeakers on US Humvees instructed residents to stay in their homes. Most people did.

Yesterday US troops conducted a similar operation, erecting two outposts in the southern half of the city to allow Iraqi soldiers to begin patrolling an area that has rarely seen any US or Iraqi forces.

US commanders said the move yesterday wasn’t the precursor to a rumoured offensive to drive insurgents from Ramadi – but rather an “isolation” tactic to prevent the fighters from receiving arms and reinforcements from outside.

Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, a huge, restive area to the west of Baghdad.

American forces already controlled other routes into the city, and the construction of the two outposts on the south side suggests US and Iraqi commanders are taking a gradual approach to confronting what some call the capital of the insurgency.