Being carried on stretcher.
Posted on 04/28/2004 5:42:37 AM PDT by kcvl
It is live on Fox News now...
I saw, this might keep Fox News from going live with these car chases or maybe a 5 minute delay. One never knows what the outcome of these car chases will be.
Hopefully.
Hey! That's my hometown. Is it exciting?
I get enough of this Iraq stuff....gimme Houston! LOL
Yep. We've been watching Falluja pretty closly all along. We knew it would come to larger conflict. It was only a matter of time. There are other areas we're watching just as closely.
It's funny....I'm getting more detailed information just sitting here at FR and I'm only about 30 miles away from the action...
Three Iraqis stand on a balcony as a US helicopter flies over the New Baghdad neighborhood during a large scale operation by US forces as they searched for an insurgent who killed a US soldier.(AFP/Karim Sahib)
A Series of Explosions Rocks Fallujah
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer
FALLUJAH, Iraq - A series of explosions and gunfire rocked Fallujah on Wednesday in new fighting the day after a heavy battle in which U.S. warplanes and artillery pounded the city in a show of force against Sunni insurgents holed up in a slum.
Gunfire and mortar blasts could be heard for more than an hour from southwestern Fallujah in the afternoon, then three thunderous explosions shook the area as warplanes circled overhead. Two black plumes of smoke rose over the area, as heavy machine-gun fire continued.
Despite three straight days of battles, U.S. officials say they are pushing ahead with negotiations to resolve the Fallujah standoff rather than launch an all-out offensive. Iraqi police took up posts in parts of the city, laying the groundwork for Marine patrols to begin circulating to establish control.
"We're going to continue to push the political track as far as it's going to take us. And if it doesn't take us far enough, we're prepared to use military means," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told ABC's "Good Morning America."
In southern Iraq, meanwhile, gunmen ambushed a Ukrainian convoy outside the city of Kut, barraging it with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. One Ukrainian was killed and two wounded, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.
Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr succeeded in driving Ukrainian peacekeepers out of Kut earlier this month, but U.S. troops later swept into the city, pushing out most of the militiamen.
U.S. troops aiming to capture al-Sadr and suppress his militia began Wednesday to gradually expand their operations out of their base in the holy city of Najaf. Soldiers set up checkpoints on the road outside the base — the main route between the center of Najaf and the center of neighboring Kufa.
The military is seeking to increase pressure on al-Sadr but is treading carefully, promising to stay away from sacred Shiite sites at the heart of the city. The base, where U.S. troops moved in earlier this week, is about three miles from the shrines.
A U.S. soldier died Tuesday in Baghdad, raising the U.S. death toll for April to 115 — the same number killed during the invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein last year. Up to 1,200 Iraqis also have been killed this month.
Saddam's 67th birthday was Wednesday, his first in U.S. detention at an undisclosed location since being captured by American troops in December. In his hometown of Tikrit, there were no apparent signs of celebration, and schools and universities were closed.
Outside Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a military convoy headed in the direction of Fallujah, killing or wounding at least two people.
After the attack, a cargo truck was left with its tires shot out and windshield pockmarked with bullets. Pools of blood were on either side of the truck's cab, and U.S. soldiers at the scene said two casualties were taken away. Their nationalities were unknown.
Wednesday's fighting in Fallujah came after a heavy battle on Tuesday night against insurgents holed up in the northern neighborhood of Jolan, a slum area of tight alleyways. AC-130 gunships and artillery pounded insurgent targets in Jolan for more than an hour, sending smoke and orange flames into the sky.
After sunrise, at least eight destroyed houses could be seen in the Jolan neighborhood. Hospitals reported Wednesday that two people were wounded in the fighting. Militants, however, often do not evacuate their casualties to hospitals fearing that the injured could be arrested by American forces.
Kimmitt said the battle was sparked when troops saw two trucks moving through the city with their lights off in an area where insurgents had been active earlier in the day.
The AC-130s destroyed the trucks, and ammunition in the trucks exploded, Kimmitt told NBC's "Today" show.
The length of the barrage Tuesday night suggested U.S. forces are seeking to wear down the insurgents in Jolan. Elsewhere in the city, the military is preparing to send in patrols Thursday to establish control. Those will avoid the Jolan area, commanders say.
On Monday, insurgents attacked Marines in the neighborhood, killing one American in a battle that ended when a tank destroyed a mosque's minaret from which U.S. commanders said insurgents were firing. Eight Iraqis were killed.
Several families were seen fleeing the city Wednesday. The fighting came at the end of a truce in which Marines outside of the city promised not to assault Fallujah if gunmen gave up their arms. U.S. commanders have said that insurgents have only given up unusable weapons.
"I was pinning some hope on the truce. The American air bombing dashed my hopes," Ali Muzel said as he escorted his wife and five children to Baghdad.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that continuing negotiations in Fallujah was "worth the try."
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the coalition has not given up on a cease-fire. But, he said in a speech in New York, "we don't have unlimited patience."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair defended U.S. tactics in Fallujah, rejecting an opposition legislator's assertion that the attack amounted to the "murder or mutilation of hundreds of women had children."
Disagreeing with that description by Sir Peter Tapsell, Blair said there were large numbers of well-armed insurgents in Fallujah and "it is right that the American forces try to make sure that order is restored to that city."
South of Baghdad, U.S. forces set up checkpoints in Najaf, just outside their base. Another checkpoint was established on a bridge outside Kufa — scene of a heavy battle Monday in which 64 Iraqis were killed.
"They took a heavy beating," said Col. Brad May, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. "Our goal ... is to continue to pressure al-Sadr and his militia. We are not going away."
But he emphasized that troops have "been very careful to respect" shrines in Kufa and Najaf.
Stay safe Allegra.
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