Troops battle insurgents near Baghdad
Insurgency displays military sophistication and planning;
guerrillas inside Fallujah 'fighting to the death'
BY ROBERT H. REID
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. soldiers
battled insurgents northeast of Bagh
dad on Monday in clashes that killed
more than 50 people. Some guerrillas
were said to be “fighting to the
death” inside Fallujah, where Ameri
can forces struggled to clear pockets
of resistance.
At least five suicide car bombers
targeted American troops elsewhere
in volatile Sunni Muslim areas north
and west of the capital, wounding at
least nine Americans. Three of those
bombings occurred nearly simultane
ously in locations between Fallujah
and the insurgent stronghold of Ra
madi, the U.S. command said.
The zone between Fallujah and Ra
madi was one of at least three areas
Monday in which insurgents pulled
I _________
off almost-simultaneous attacks
against U.S. or Iraqi forces, suggest
ing a level of military sophistication
and planning not seen in the early
months of the insurgency last year.
The worst fighting Monday took
place about 35 miles northeast of
Baghdad after assaults, at almost the
same time, on police stations in
Baqouba and its twin city, Buhriz.
Gunmen abducted police Col. Qas
sim Mohammed, took him to the
Buhriz police station and threatened
to kill him if police didn’t surrender
the station. When police refused, the
gunmen tied the colonel’s hands be
hind his back and shot him dead.
U.S. and Iraqi troops rushed to the
scene, setting off a gun battle that
killed 26 insurgents and five other
Iraqi police, Iraqi officials said.
In one of the car bombings along
the Fallujah-Ramadi corridor, the
attacker rammed into a Marine
armored vehicle, wounding the
four troops inside. The two other
bombings caused no injuries, in
cluding one in which the driver
rammed his car into a tank but his
explosives failed.
Witnesses reported a fourth car
bombing late Monday in Ramadi
against a U.S. convoy, but there was
no report of casualties.
In Mosul, where an uprising broke
out last week in support of the Fallu
jah defenders, a suicide driver tried to
ram his bomb-laden vehicle into a
U.S. convoy, the military said. He
missed but set off the explosives,
wounding five soldiers.
In Baghdad after nightfall Monday,
heavy explosions rocked the Green
Zone, the barricaded neighborhood
that houses the Iraqi government and
U.S. Embassy. Loudspeakers warned,
“Take cover, take cover.”
During a news conference in
Baghdad, Interior Minister Falah
Hassan al-Naqib, himself a Sunni,
condemned the growing attacks on
Iraqi police and security forces, call
ing them part of a campaign “to di
vide this country and thrust it into a
civil war. ”
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said
police had arrested the leader of a
militant group behind the killing of
some foreign hostages. Moayad
Ahmed Yasseen, leader of the group
Muhammad’s Army, was captured
along with some of his followers,
Allawi said. He did not say what kid
nappings the group has been in
volved in.
The spike in violence accompanied
the American-led assault against Fal
lujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad. The
week-old offensive in Fallujah has left
at least 38 American troops and six
Iraqi soldiers dead.
The number of U.S. troops wound
ed is now 320, though 134 have re
turned to duty. U.S. officials estimat
ed more than 1,200 insurgents have
been killed.
The Fallujah cost
The offensive in Fallujah, Iraq,
has left at least 38 American
troops dead. Securing the city
was considered crucial in order
for elections to go ahead as
scheduled in January.
Casualties in Fallujah
Week beginning Monday, Nov. 8
12 deaths .
10
M T W T F S
Marines: 28 Army: 8 Navy: 1
Air Force: 1.=
SOURCE: AP research AP
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Red Cross: Convoy unable to
enter Fallujah due to fighting
Red Crescent convoy
unable to enter general
hospital in conflict zone
BY ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GENEVA — A relief convoy of am
bulances and supplies was unable to
enter Fallujah because of fighting in
the city Monday, Red Crescent offi
cials said.
Ahmed Rawi, the Baghdad
spokesman for the International Com
mittee of the Red Cross, said the Iraqi
Red Crescent convoy of four ambu
lances and four trucks carrying sup
plies reached Fallujah General Hospi
tal on the outskirts of the city, but was
unable to go into the conflict zone.
Ismail al-Haqi, director of the Iraqi
Red Crescent Society, said he had de
cided it was too dangerous for the
convoy to proceed.
“I can’t sacrifice the lives of the
volunteers; it is very dangerous to go
inside Fallujah now and we preferred
not to enter,” al-Haqi said.
He denied an earlier statement by
the Red Crescent that U.S. forces and
Iraqi officials turned back the convoy.
The Red Crescent and Red Cross
AID. page 8
Fallujah inaccessible to relief agencies
A convoy of ambulances and relief supplies was forced to turn
back from Fallujah, Iraq, on Monday as U.S. ground forces
cornered remaining resistance and resumed airstrikes.
TURKEY
Mosul
Suicide driver
missed target but
explosives
wounded five
soldiers
SYRIA
JOR.
^ Ramadi
Heavy fighting
erupted Monday
between militants
and U.S. forces
Baqouba
At least 20
insurgents killed.
Buhriz
Militants killed
town police chief
Baghdad
Heavy explosions
rocked the Green
- Zone on Monday
POLISH i V
SECTOR {%
Fallujah
► U.S. ground forces tried ^
to corner remaining resistance
► Leader of militant group behind
the hostage killings was captured
Suwayrah
Near-simultaneous attacks on a police station
and an Iraqi National Guard headquarters killed
seven Iraqi police and national guardsmen
UNITED
KINGDOM
SECTOR
KUWAIT
SAUDI
ARABIA
SOURCE: ESRI
AP
Marines view Fallujah's ruins,
look at reconstruction needs
u.b. Marine engineers assess damages Monday;
civil affairs specialist says destruction is overwhelming
BY EDWARD HARRIS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FALLUJAH, Iraq — U.S. Marine
engineers began assessing damage
in Fallujah on Monday, driving
through tableaux of devastation as
huge explosions shook the city and
the belching whir of a U.S. war
plane’s machine guns sounded
overhead while troops fought with
holdout insurgents.
“It’s incredible, the destruction. It’s
overwhelming,” said Sgt. Todd Bow
ers, a Marine civil affairs specialist at
tached to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Ma
rine Regiment who is helping
determine reconstruction needs. “My
first question is: Where to begin?”
Even before the assault on Fallujah,
U.S. warplanes struck repeatedly at
suspected insurgent strongholds and
American forces opened their attack
Nov. 8 with a heavy air and artillery
bombardment that sent great plumes of
smoke and fire over its neighborhoods.
A week of ground combat by
Marines and some Iraqi troops, sup
ported by tanks and attack helicop
ters, added to the destruction in a
city where the homes and business
es for some 300,000 people are
packed into an area a little less than
two miles wide and a little more
than that long.
Still, pinpoint targeting allowed
U.S. forces to avoid the razing of
whole neighborhoods, like that seen
from combat during World War II.
Many buildings that insurgents
turned into strongpoints are now just
piles of shattered concrete blocks and
bricks. Nearby structures, separated
by only a low wall and a few feet of
grass, stand untouched.
The office of interim Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi said Monday that only
about 200 buildings out of 17,000 in
Fallujah sustained major damage.
Lesser damage is widespread.
Streets are littered with fallen
bricks, broken glass, toppled light
poles, downed power lines, twisted
traffic barriers and spent cartridges.
Walls and security gates are laced
FALLUJAH, page 8