Posted on 11/08/2004 8:39:55 AM PST by epluribus_2
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - More than 4,000 U.S. Marines and Army troops punched their way into northeastern Fallujah on Monday, kicking off a massive assault dubbed Operation Phantom Fury that seeks to put an end to half a year of insurgent control of the Sunni Muslim city.
The prelude to the assault on the Askari neighborhood was a crushing air and artillery bombardment of the city that rose to a crescendo by Monday evening, with U.S. strike jets dropping bombs around the clock and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.
Meanwhile, insurgents in Baghdad and nearby Ramadi tried to keep up the pressure on the coalition forces with new attacks, including one on a Catholic church in the capital.
Earlier Monday U.S. troops had fought their way into the city's western outskirts, seizing two bridges over the Euphrates River and helping Iraqi soldiers take the city's main hospital in the first stage of a major assault on the insurgent stronghold.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
service all targets. period.
I don't think th emilitary will release anything harmful
They have no idea how great God is, and will soon find out.
actually, if you broadcast propaganda or combat instructions from it, i.e. minarets, then it is enemy infrastructure and must be removed.
Gotcha....thanks.
Word was no PC. If they are shot at they can take the place down.
I surely hope this is true.
FoxNews reporting 42 insurgents killed in initial attack on Fallujah. [It's a start!]
RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) - At least six Iraqis were killed and more than a dozen people wounded, including a US soldier, in attacks on central and northern Iraq.
The killings came after US and Iraqi forces seized strategic positions on the western edge of Fallujah and appeared ready to launch a major assault.
In the restive Sunni Muslim city of Ramadi, at least four Iraqis were killed and one wounded in a car bomb attack as a US convoy was passing through, police said Monday.
The main hospital in Ramadi, which lies west of the rebel bastion of Fallujah, said it had received four dead and one wounded from the attack.
There was no immediate confirmation from the US military or whether there were any US casualties.
In Mosul, another majority Sunni city in northern Iraq, a car bomb hit a US convoy travelling in a central neighbourhood, wounding one soldier, said a US military spokesman.
City hospitals said they received 12 wounded civilians.
An AFP correspondent at the scene saw a big hole in the street and shattered glass from nearby buildings from the impact of the blast. At least three vehicles were also destroyed.
Near the city of Samarra north of Baghdad, two Iraqi contractors working with the Americans were killed and two others were wounded when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, a police spokesman said.
US and Iraqi forces, meanwhile, searched for suspects for a second day in the restive city amid reports of intermittent clashes there.
Police said Iraqi national guardsmen and US troops conducted sweeps in some parts of Samarra, two days after car bombs and attacks on police stations in the city left 36 dead and scores wounded.
A midnight to 8:00 am curfew imposed after the attacks was still in place according to an AFP correspondent in the predominantly Sunni city. No cars were allowed in the centre and schools were closed.
A police officer said clashes took place in parts of the city overnight and that the western sector, suspected of being a shelter for rebels and their sympathisers, was cordoned off.
But a spokeswoman for the US military command based in the nearby city of Tikrit was unable to confirm the clashes or provide any details.
Iraqi and US forces launched a massive operation in Samarra in early October in which they regained control of the city from rebels.
But US military commanders admitted after the end of the brief assault that many of the insurgent leaders went to ground.
Elsewhere, two vehicles were destroyed in an explosion on the main road to the international airport in the third blast in as many days near the entrance to the sprawling transport hub.
One of the vehicles was engulfed in flames while US troops rushed to close off the road, an AFP reporter at the scene said. It was not known if the vehicles were civilian or military or if there were any casualties.
US officials had no information on the explosion.
The airport road is a favorite target of insurgents, who struck two US military convoys there at the weekend, killing one Iraqi and wounding three US soldiers.
strs-sdm-sd/loc/txw
If folks on this thread are correct about unrestricted ROE, then "bullets coming out" means "bombs going in."
this looks like a western woman tex.. volunteer maybe?
Preempted by McGreedy's farewell whine
Copy that.
howdy tex.. you are going to provide us with much good news I know.. NOW if you can get info the "other way" make sure you let the troops there know that FR said there are no "holy places" in this engagement.
Refugees in Baghdad have confirmed the rumours that the 'Mujahideen' are forcing men from 15-50 years old to stay and that they were threatened with execution if they refuse to carry arms in defense of the town.
I bet some of these guys turn their guns on their oppressors when the good guys get close.
42 huh? That's the answer. And there are a whole lot of guys in Fallujah seeing "Yellow" and knowing it's the end of their world!
It is a worse danger to overestimate one's self.
Thanks!
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