Backed by a barrage from warplanes and artillery, American troops fought their way into the western outskirts of Fallujah on Monday, seizing a hospital and two bridges over the Euphrates River in the first stage of a major assault on the insurgent stronghold.
The United States military estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in the opening round of attacks. Four foreigners, including two Moroccans and two unidentified people, were captured as US and Iraqi forces swept into the first objective: Fallujah’s main hospital, which the military and Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said was under insurgent control.
Iraqi soldiers stormed through the facility, blasting open doors and pulling handcuffed patients into the halls in search of gunmen.
Allawi said he had given the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, considered the strongest bastion of Iraq’s Sunni insurgents.
“We are determined to clean Fallujah of terrorists,” he said.
Allawi initially said 38 people were killed in the hospital seizure, but the US military later gave a figure of 42 dead across the city. A military spokesperson, First Sergeant Steven Valley, called the situation with figures “fluid”.
Throughout the morning, artillery and mortars pounded targets in Fallujah and on its outskirts, and a US jet swooped low to fire rockets at insurgent positions. An AC-130 gunship raked the city all night long with cannon fire, and before dawn, four 225kg bombs were dropped, raising orange fireballs over the city’s rooftops.
Outside the city, US troops set up mortar positions and filled sandbags in preparation for an anticipated assault.
US troops clashed with insurgents in several locations along the outskirts of the city, firing rifle shots as they took cover around corners and behind the doors of their Humvees.
Commanders said the toughest fight was yet to come: when American forces cross to the east bank of the Euphrates and enter the main part of Fallujah — including the Jolan neighbourhood where insurgent defenses are believed the strongest.
In the first foray across the river into Fallujah proper, marines secured an apartment building in the north-western corner of the city by noon, said Captain Brian Heatherman, of the Third Battalion First Marine Regiment.
“The marines have now gained a foothold in the city,” said Heatherman.
He said there were some Iraqi casualties as the troops seized the building, where marines found an improvised bomb hanging above a doorway — one of the many variety of booby traps they expect to come across in the urban battle.
Marine commanders have warned the offensive against Fallujah could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam War. About 10 000 US marines, army soldiers and Iraqi forces are around Fallujah, where commanders estimate about 3 000 insurgents are dug in. More than half the civilian population of about 300 000 people is believed to have fled already.
US and Iraqi commanders have vowed to stamp out Sunni Muslim guerrillas controlling Fallujah and other cities north and west of Baghdad ahead of vital January elections.
State of emergency
Allawi said that emergency measures will be imposed on Fallujah and Ramadi, another insurgent stronghold nearby, beginning at 6pm local time. Roads and government facilities in the two cities will be closed, all weapons will be banned, Iraq’s borders with Syria and Jordan will be closed and Baghdad’s international airport will be shut down for 48 hours.
Allawi’s government announced on Sunday that it was imposing a 60-day state of emergency across Iraq — except for the Kurdish-run north.
The US military reported its first casualties of the offensive — two marines killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates. Ten Iraqis were killed and 11 others injured during the overnight barrage in Fallujah, according to doctors.
Clerics in Fallujah denounced Iraqi troops participating in the assault, calling them the “occupiers’ lash on their fellow countrymen”.
“We swear by God that we will stand against you in the streets, we will enter your houses and we will slaughter you just like sheep,” the clerics said in a statement.
The US military said insurgents had been in control of Fallujah General hospital — located on the west bank of the Euphrates — and were “forcing the doctors there to release propaganda and false information”.
It underlined in a statement that when hospitals “are used for military purposes they lose … protected status”.
While US forces sealed off the area, Iraqi troops moved into the hospital — “capturing four foreigners and killing 38 persons”, Allawi said.
Two of those captured were Moroccans, he said, adding: “We do not know whether [those killed] are Iraqis or not. They were stationed in the hospital in order to carry out terrorist actions.”
Rifle-like crackles echoed through the building as the Iraqi troops used special tools, powered by .22 caliber blanks, to break open door locks.
Hospital ‘does not belong to anybody’
During the siege of Fallujah last April, doctors at the hospital were a main source of reports about civilian casualties, which were reported in the hundreds. Those reports generated strong public outage in Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab world, prompting the administration of US President George Bush to call off the offensive. US officials insisted the numbers were overblown.
Hospital director Dr Salih al-Issawi said on Monday he asked US officers to allow doctors and ambulances go inside the main part of the city to help the wounded but they refused. There was no confirmation from the Americans.
Al-Issawi denounced the US seizure. The Americans “thought that they would halt medical assistance to the resistance”, he said by telephone to a reporter inside the city. “But they did not realise that the hospital does not belong to anybody, especially the resistance.”
The offensive, launched after sundown on Sunday, came after government negotiators reported the failure of last-minute peace talks. Allawi said on Monday that “terrorists” in the city were not willing to make peace.
“We have no other option but to take the necessary measures to protect Iraqi people from these killers and liberate Fallujah,” he said.
Allawi, a secular-minded Shi’ite Muslim, has faced strong pressure from within Iraq’s minority Sunni community to avoid an all-out assault.
Clerics condemn assault
On Monday, the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group, condemned the assault on Fallujah. The group has threatened to boycott elections.
“The attack on Fallujah is an illegal and illegitimate action against civilian and innocent people. We denounce this operation which will have a grave consequences on the situation in Iraq,” said spokesperson Mohammed Bashar al-Faidhi.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and others have warned that a military offensive could trigger a wave of violence that would sabotage the January elections by alienating Sunnis, who form the core of the insurgency. About 60% of Iraq’s 25-million people are Shi’ite.
Over the weekend, insurgents launched a wave of attacks in central Iraq in an apparent attempt to divert attention away from Fallujah. About 60 people were killed — including two Americans soldiers — and 75 injured. — Sapa-AP
Associated Press correspondents Tini Tran, Mariam Fam, Katarina Kratovac and Maggie Michael in Baghdad contributed to this report