United States warplanes unleashed two air strikes and ground fire on the restive city of Baquba on Monday following clashes between rebels and Iraqi security forces, in a morning of violence that left about 20 insurgents dead, a US military official said.
Another 80 to 85 militants were still reported in the area where skirmishes were ongoing, said US Army Staff Sergeant Steve Johnson.
The unrest — the latest in a wave of violence that has swept Iraq since a US-Iraqi military assault was launched on the city of Fallujah a week ago — began at about 8am when a bus carrying 20 to 40 insurgents arrived in Baquba, the sergeant said.
Iraqi national guards clashed with gangs of militants in three separate skirmishes, while others were spotted planting roadside bombs, and US-led military forces in the area were attacked from a mosque.
”Iraqi police have secured that mosque and coalition forces are working with the [Baquba] governor and police chief right now,” said Johnson.
A weapons cache including rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and ammunition was found in the mosque, he noted.
The escalating lawlessness prompted the military to drop two 500-pound bombs on suspected insurgent targets on the outskirts of Baquba, 60km north-east of Baghdad, the official said.
The attack was coupled with five artillery strikes.
”Iraqi security forces and coalition forces are actively engaging insurgents right now,” said Johnson.
Meanwhile, violent clashes also erupted in the town of Buhruz, north-east of Baghdad, on Monday, pitting rebels against Iraqi police and national guards, witnesses said.
It was impossible to tell immediately whether there had been any casualties.
A mob of about 20 militants set fire to two police vehicles and three belonging to the national guards and stole any weapons that they found, the witnesses said.
Other major cities, including Iraq’s northern capital of Mosul and the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Ramadi have suffered a spike in violence since the battle for Fallujah was launched as militants take the fight to new fronts.
Red Crescent convoy withdraws
A convoy of aid from Iraq’s Red Crescent withdrew from the main hospital on the outskirts of Fallujah on Monday after failing to get permission to deliver supplies to residents inside the city, a spokesperson said.
The convoy of trucks laden with food and medical supplies will travel instead to villages around Fallujah where tens of thousands of civilians from the city have set up camp to escape a week-long battle that erupted last Monday, said Red Crescent spokesperson Ferdus al-Ibadi.
”They are withdrawing, they did not get permission [to enter further into Fallujah] and they will deliver supplies to the surrounding area,” Ibadi said.
The US-led military in Fallujah allowed the convoy to enter the general hospital on the western edge of the battle-scarred city on Saturday, but refused it permission to go further due to the inherent dangers as fighting is ongoing.
The hospital also had no patients as a bridge leading to it was littered with roadside bombs, said a military spokesperson.
”The Red Crescent vehicles … were rerouted back to their origin because Fallujah General has no patients,” she said.
”All patients are being diverted to the Ramadi and Jordanian hospitals until the bridge leading to Fallujah General is completely clear of improvised explosive devices and the security of the area can provide safe passage of ambulances with patients,” she said in an e-mail. — Sapa-AFP
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