Posted on 04/26/2004 6:17:40 PM PDT by blam
Gunships level minaret as US cancels assault
By David Rennie in Washington and Toby Harnden in Baghdad
(Filed: 27/04/2004)
An American assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah was postponed yesterday after local commanders said bloody urban warfare could provoke retaliation across the country and protests throughout the Muslim world.
The commanders, citing progress in political negotiations on Saturday night, agreed to extend the threadbare "ceasefire" for at least two more days despite residents' failure to surrender heavy weapons as demanded.
US army vehicles wrecked by an explosion in Baghdad
But yesterday morning a fierce battle left marines "fighting like lions" for their lives.
In a potential propaganda disaster, the marines called in helicopter gunships to level a 60-ft mosque minaret allegedly being used as a firing platform by insurgents.
The decision to step back from an immediate assault was taken after President George W Bush and senior aides held a video conference with Paul Bremer, the Coalition Provisional Authority chief, and Gen John Abizaid, the senior US commander in the region.
One senior official told the New York Times Mr Bush and his aides decided that even if an invasion of Fallujah later became inevitable the delay would allow them to say they had given talks every chance. "No one is eager for the alternatives. There's not much risk in giving this more time, except that the humanitarian situation worsens every day," the official said.
Brig-Gen Mark Kimmitt, the US military spokesman in Baghdad, accused insurgents of provoking marines to open fire when they knew cameras were present, as part of a propaganda war.
A plume of smoke rises over Fallujah as fighting continues
He said: "Many times it would appear that these provocative actions on the part of the enemy are intentionally inspired for the purposes of trying to get a tank into the camera lens, an airplane in the camera lens."
Brig Gen Kimmitt said the latest fighting in Fallujah began when marines were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire from the mosque.
A search of the minaret found "a significant amount of expended shell casings".
Two hours later, marines were pinned down by more firing from the mosque and called in a quick-reaction force of air support and tanks. These "directed suppressing fire on the mosque, killing eight enemy fighters and damaging the infrastructure". One American was killed.
In Baghdad, cheering Iraqis looted burnt Humvee vehicles and carried away guns and radios yesterday after two American soldiers were killed and five wounded when a house exploded as they searched it for "chemical munitions". A woman soldier with severe burns to the face and chest was seen being taken away on a stretcher and dozens of people, mainly youths, smashed four Humvees which had been set ablaze, stripping them of weapons and equipment.
A boy climbed on top of one of the vehicles and beat it with a stick. Another youth, wielding an American rifle, denounced Mr Bush and Mr Bremer. "This is for the madman Bush, for the madman Bremer," he shouted.
Eight Iraqi civilians were injured in the blast.
Brig-Gen Kimmitt said the house was surrounded after intelligence that its owner was "suspected of producing and supplying chemical agents to insurgents". He would not specify what type of "chemical munitions" were thought to have been there.
About 200 soldiers and military policemen entered the flashpoint city of Najaf - the Shia holy site where the radical young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is holed up with armed militia fighters - moving into a base due to be vacated by Spanish and Latin American forces soon.
Loud explosions echoed through the city last night as fighting erupted between US forces and Sadr's militia between Najaf and nearby Kufa.
Mr Bremer said an "explosive situation" was developing. Militants were stockpiling weapons in mosques, schools and shrines.
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