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Reference

Falluja Archive Oct 2004

Falluja Table - April 08

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IBC Extracted Falluja News - April 08

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Kuwait News Agency
-
AROUND 275 IRAQI CITIZENS KILLED IN FALLUJA CONFRONTATIONS
Specific incidents / deaths

 

Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] Medical sources in the city of Al-Falluja, west of Baghdad, asserted Thursday that around 275 Iraqi citizens were killed in confrontations between the coalition forces and the insurgents in the city.
Date range? 5th-8th
Total  275
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Sources in the city said thousands of Iraqi citizens arrived in the city along with humanitarian organizations working in Iraq to offer medical and nutrition aid to the citizens in the city. The sources noted that the US forces prevented people from entering the city, while some sources asserted that the US forces will guarantee the entry of reliefd aid to the city but after searching the aid batches

US/military viewpoint

 

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Guardian
-
Rory McCarthy
-
'WE WILL FIGHT UNTIL THE END, UNTIL EACH ONE OF THEM DIES
Specific incidents / deaths

In one of the worst single clashes, a US jet fighter bombed an office of the Muslim Clerics' Community, a building close to the city's Abdul Aziz al-Samarrai mosque. At least 25 Iraqis were killed and up to a further 20 injured in the strike, according to Zorbaie. Other reports yesterday said as many as 40 people had died in the bombing.

On Tuesday another bomb demolished a large house in the Joulan neighbourhood in the north of Falluja, killing 20 people and injuring another four. Among the dead were several women and children.

Date killed?  7th (20) 6th (25-40)
Total  'at least' 25 ('other reports said as many as 40') + 20 (Tuesday, in one large house) =45-60
(20 + 4 injured)
Civilian / Fighter

'Among the dead [of the 20] were several women and children'

Cumulative deaths [and injuries] The past three days of strikes have killed at least 60 Iraqis and left more than 100 injured, according to Mohammad Abdul Razzaq al-Zorbaie, an Iraqi journalist who lives in Falluja and who spoke to the Guardian by satellite telephone. Other Iraqi journalists reported similar tolls.
Date range?   5th-7th (inclusive)
Total 'at least' 60
(100 injured)
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

One of the fighters stepped forward. He was dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt, a red-and-white keffiyeh scarf covering the whole of his face. He was young and as he spoke he rested a loaded rocket-propelled grenade launcher awkwardly on his right shoulder.

"The Americans are accusing the people of Falluja of being terrorists," he said. "While they themselves are harassing our women and girls, attacking our families and terrifying the civilians. We told them it was forbidden for Americans to enter Falluja but they are not respecting our words."

Encounters with Iraq's self-styled resistance, the "muqawama", are rare, but their message is always the same. For the past year they have been fighting to force US soldiers out of the Sunni towns north and north-west of Baghdad and ultimately out of Iraq itself, whatever chaos that may bring.

...

"It is hard to move around, either driving or walking," Zorbaie said. One of his Iraqi colleagues, a cameraman, was shot and injured in the leg yesterday by an American soldier
.

Falluja's main hospital is outside the city, on the western side of the broad Euphrates river. Doctors have now moved to a small public health clinic in the city centre but there are severe shortages of bandages and medicine, anaesthetics in particular. "There are no medicines and now there is no water. There hasn't been any electricity for a few days," the journalist said.

Since few people can leave their homes, most of the dead are being buried either in gardens, near the street or at local mosques.

...

"We all feel in danger, whether we are on the street or in our houses," Zorbaie said.

...

"At the beginning we thought the Americans came for humanitarian reasons but now we see they came for destruction," said Khairullah Ibrahim Abbas.

"The Americans are civilised with values, morals and manners, isn't that right?" said Mr Yusuf. "If they are doing this because of the four Americans who were killed, why are they killing so many women and children and bombing the civilian districts?"

US/military viewpoint

 

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Agence France-Presse
-
Ned Parker
-
CORPSES LITTER STREETS IN FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths

Flies buzzed on the lips of the corpse of a 40-year-old Iraqi with a moustache and receding black hairline. Marines shot him in the neck when he fired a rocket-propelled grenade at them across the industrial wasteland of garages, factories and metal shops.

"We don't know where to move him," said one marine said, looking over at flies clustered on the corpse's blood-stained neck as rockets struck just a block away, sending columns of black smoke into the air.

Date killed?   6th-8th
Total
Civilian / Fighter

0/1

Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

US/military viewpoint

"We chase them.. We keep it as aggressive as possible," said Corporal Jay Picard from an improvised trench converted from a mechanic's inspection pit.

Captain Chris Chown, a Marine battalion air officer, said the Iraqis were fighting back with hit-and-run tactics and snipers, throwing small-arms fire and rockets at the Americans.

"It's tough. These guys are determined. One by one they can't stand up to the US military force so they are using all the scenery available to them," Chown told a reporter embedded with the unit.

"One guy can basically hold down a whole squad. He shoots from one window and pops in another. They are fierce and very determined but they can't shoot straight. They are basically spraying and praying."

...

But Chown expressed concern that the outgunned Iraqis could end up winning the battle of public opinion if the fighting continues.

"I hope one day we don't get so jaded we just roll down the streets in armoured vehicles shooting at whatever moves," she said. "If that happens we need to take a step back and look at the humanity of the place or we've just lost our mission."

"We are at a crossroads in Fallujah. ... You get to a critical juncture where one small event is going to tip things for us or against us. If we're not there already, we're getting pretty close."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
22:48 Makka Time, 19:48 GMT
-
PLEA TO LIFT SIEGE AS TOLL MOUNTS
Specific incidents / deaths

Initially, military officials said resistance fighters were holed up in the Abd al-Aziz Samarai mosque, leaving 40 "fighters" dead and five US marine "casualties".

But a marine officer was later forced to admit that US forces had failed to find any bodies.

However, a family in a car outside of the mosque were killed in the attack. Many civilians have taken refuge in Falluja's mosques.

Date killed? 7th
Total ?
Civilian / Fighter 'a family in a car outside of the mosque were killed in the attack'
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Two hundred and eighty people have been killed since the start of the siege and 400 more injured, said Tahr al-Issawi, the director of Falluja's hospital on Thursday.

"We also know of dead and wounded in various places buried under rubble, but we cannot reach them because of the fighting," he said.

...

Many children have been killed in the US attacks on Falluja

Date range?  
Total 280
(400 injured)
Civilian / Fighter 'Many children have been killed'
Selected info, comment, analysis

Doctors in Falluja want the siege on the town lifted for shifting patients with serious injuries even as brutal street battles rage.

...

Clinics in the town, 65km west of Baghdad, are struggling to treat victims of the US attacks, said Aljazeera's correspondent Ahmad Mansur.

US helicopters and snipers are firing on ambulances and civilian vehicles trying to take the wounded to clinics or the hospital, the correspondent said.

...

"One civilian car trying to reach a clinic hoisted a white flag but still came under fire," he said.

Occupation forces also refused to allow trucks carrying aid, including medicine, food and water, to enter Falluja on Thursday said Aljazeera's correspondent Abd al-Qadir Ayad.

In a show of unity, thousands of Iraqis had collected the relief material for delivery.

Meanwhile, Muhsin Abd al-Hamid, a member of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, called on occupation forces to end the bloodshed in Falluja.

Speaking to Aljazeera, al-Hamid condemned the siege and threatened to withdraw from the council if the fighting did not stop.

Street battles

Some 40 more injured people, mainly women and children, were admitted to the hospital on Thursday.

...

Residents have started digging a new cemetery since they are unable to reach any of the town's cemeteries to bury the victims. According to Muslim practice the dead need to be buried within 24 hours.

More mosque attacks?

US warplanes continue to attack residential areas and circle above mosques, said Mansur, a day after occupation forces dropped bombs on a mosque.

Bodies are being brought to the town's mosques

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
04:16 AM ET
-
Alistair Lyon
-
FRESH FIGHTING HITS SHI'ITE SHRINE CITY IN IRAQ
Specific incidents / deaths

In Falluja, a missile hit an eastern residential district at dawn on Thursday. Hospital director Rafi Hayad said three dead civilians and 15 wounded had been brought in after the incident.

Residents said two civilians had been killed in a separate rocket strike on Wednesday evening.

Date killed? 8th
Total 3
[15 wounded]
Civilian / Fighter 3/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Rafi al-Qaysawi, the director of a clinic converted into a makeshift hospital, said 60 bodies and 162 wounded had been brought to the emergency facility during this week's fighting.

Date range? 5th-8th
Total

60 (one emergency clinic)
[162 wounded]

Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
18:54 (UK)
-
Alistair Lyon
-
FIERCE FIGHTING RAGES IN IRAQ
Specific incidents / deaths

Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] Up to 300 Iraqis have been killed and at least 400 hurt in the Sunni town in the four days since U.S. Marines began a crackdown on guerrillas, hospital director Rafi Hayad said.
Date range? 5th-8th
Total 'up to' 300
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint

The upsurge in violence has prompted President George W. Bush's critics to suggest U.S. forces face a Vietnam-style quagmire, but Sanchez rejected the comparison.

"I don't see any shadows of Vietnam in Iraq," Sanchez told a news conference.

"We have got Falluja under siege," he said, but denied that U.S. forces were depriving its people of humanitarian supplies.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
-
8:46 AM (UK)
-
BASSEM MROUE and ABDUL-QADER SAADI
-
HOSPITAL CHIEF: OVER 280 IRAQIS KILLED
Specific incidents / deaths

On Wednesday, U.S. Marines battled insurgents for control of this Sunni Muslim stronghold calling in airstrikes against a mosque compound where witnesses said dozens were killed in six hours of fighting.

...

The U.S. military said insurgents were using the mosque for a military fire base. Iraqi witnesses estimated 40 people were killed as they gathered for afternoon prayers. U.S. officials said no civilians died and American commanders gave conflicting reports of insurgent casualties.

An Associated Press reporter who went to the mosque said the minaret was standing, but damaged, apparently by shrapnel. The bomb blew away part of a wall, opening an entry for the Marine assault. The reporter saw at least three cars leaving, each with a number of dead and wounded.

...

Marine Corps spokesman 1st Lt. Eric Knapp said the American force besieging Fallujah has killed more than 30 suspected insurgents and captured 51 since Tuesday night.

...

Marine Capt. Bruce Frame, in a statement issued from Central Command, said: "One anti-coalition force member was killed in the attack. There is no report of civilian casualties."

Byrne said those in the mosque were rebels, and "We believe we killed a bunch."

Kimmitt said, "I understand there was a large casualty toll taken by the enemy."

Date killed? 7th
Total 40 (est.) +1
Civilian / Fighter

40 est. 'gathered for afternooon prayers' - Iraqi witnesses
/
30 'suspected insurgents' killed since night of 6th -US military

Also 0/1 'One anti-coalition force member was killed in the attack' -US military (possibly at second mosque)

Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

More than 280 Iraqis have been killed and 400 wounded this week in the U.S. Marines' siege of insurgents in this city west of Baghdad, the director of Fallujah's hospital said Thursday.

Taher Al-Issawi told The Associated Press that the toll was likely higher.

"We also know of dead and wounded in various places buried under rubble, but we cannot reach them," because of fighting, he said.

Date range? 5th-8th
Total 280+
(400 wounded)
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The U.S. assault on Fallujah began early Monday, when Marines surrounded the city of 200,000 people. Since then, U.S. forces have been waging heavy street battles, using warplanes and tanks against Sunni insurgents dug in heavily populated neighborhoods.

...

The Abdel-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque was hit by U.S. aircraft that launched a Hellfire missile at its minaret and dropped a 500-pound bomb on a wall surrounding the compound.


...

During fighting elsewhere in Fallujah, U.S. forces seized a second place of prayer, the al-Muadidi mosque. A Marine climbed the minaret and fired on guerrilla gunmen, witnesses said. Insurgents fired back, hitting the minaret with rocket-propelled grenades and causing it to partially collapse, the AP reporter said.


...

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq, said the Marines did not attack the mosque until it became clear enemy fighters were inside and using it to cover their attacks.

...

At Camp Fallujah, Byrne said the Marines now control 25 percent of Fallujah.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Sydney Morning Herald
-
1:21AM (AUS.)
-
Paul Mcgeough
-
40 DEAD AS US BOMBS MOSQUE
Specific incidents / deaths

US marines bombed a mosque, killing up to 40 insurgents holed up inside, during an offensive in the volatile Iraqi town of Falluja yesterday, a marines officer said.

...

The officer said a helicopter gunship had shot and killed one insurgent who fired a rocket-propelled grenade on marines. The body of an insurgent who was killed yesterday was still lying on the ground of a street in the south of the town.

Date killed? 7th
Total 41
Civilian / Fighter (40 'insurgents' later retracted)
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Colonel Byrne said the marines had carried out the raid as precisely as they could because there were people living nearby.

US forces have claimed that the rebels, who are fiercely opposed to the US-led occupation, are using mosques to fire on marines and to hide weapons.

Earlier, all the Falluja mosques had called for a jihad, or holy war, against the coalition forces amid intense bombardments and aircraft overflights.

US/military viewpoint

The attack followed several hours of small arms and rocket-propelled grenades fire from the insurgents which injured three marines, said Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne.

He said there were as many as 40 rebels inside the mosque, adding: "We want to kill the people inside."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
09:26 (UK)
-
Andrew Marshall
-
U.S. MAY BEEF UP IRAQ TROOP LEVELS
Specific incidents / deaths Witnesses said at least 25 Iraqis died.
Date killed? 7th
Total 25
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis Bush -- campaigning for re-election in November with opinion polls showing plunging support over Iraq -- held phone talks with close ally Prime Minister Tony Blair, but officials dismissed any suggestion of a crisis.

..

The U.S. military said two 500-pound (227-kg) bombs were dropped and rockets were fired at insurgents hiding behind the mosque's outer wall.
US/military viewpoint "When you start using a religious location for military purposes, it loses its protected status," U.S. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told CNN.
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Agence France-Presse
-
3:11 AM ET
-
US BATTLE TWO-PRONGED OFFENSIVE AGAINST SUNNI, SHIITE REBELS
Specific incidents / deaths

An Iraqi girl was also killed and her sister wounded when a mortar round meant for US Marines landed in her family home, a US military officer said.

Date killed? 7th?
Total 1 (Iraqi girl)
Civilian / Fighter 1/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

There was no sign of an easing in the fighting that has raged around several Iraqi cities since Sunday, leaving more than 200 Iraqis dead, as well as 15 Americans, including 12 killed in a single incident in Ramadi, west of here.

...

Despite earlier indicating that up to 40 suspected insurgents were killed in the air strike, a marine officer was later forced to admit that US forces had failed to find any bodies in the mosque.

US/military viewpoint

"When we hit that building I thought we had killed all the bad guys, but when we went in they didn't find any bad guys in the building," Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne told AFP.

...

"It (a mosque) has a special status under the Geneva Convention that it can't be attacked," Kimmitt said. "However, it can be attacked when there is a military necessity."

He said religious sites would be struck if US forces believed insurgents were "storing weapons, using weapons, inciting violence, (or) executing violence from its grounds."

...

"We will not be shaken by the thugs and terrorists," US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) said in a speech in response to the violence.

"These killers don't have values... We face tough action in Iraq but we will stay the course."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
New York Times
-
CHRISTINE HAUSER
-
IRAQ UPRISING SPREADS; RUMSFELD SEES IT AS 'TEST OF WILL'
Specific incidents / deaths In Falluja in the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad, where the most pitched battles occurred, hospital officials said several dozen people had been killed after Americans fired rockets at a mosque compound.
Date killed? 7th
Total 36? (est.)
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis American officials said firing had come from the mosque, forcing them to retaliate. The mosque itself remained largely intact

...

In Falluja, marines said they had waged a six-hour battle around the Abdel-Aziz al-Samarri mosque before calling in a Super Cobra helicopter, which fired a missile. An F-16 dropped a laser-guided bomb, Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said.

Elsewhere in Falluja, American forces seized a second place of prayer, the Muadidi mosque, according to The Associated Press. A marine climbed the minaret and fired on guerrilla gunmen, witnesses told the agency. Insurgents fired back, hitting the minaret with rocket-propelled grenades and causing it to partly collapse, The A.P. added.

...

Two journalists working for The New York Times and two of their Iraqi staff were detained by insurgents in a small town outside Baghdad for three hours on Wednesday. They were released unharmed and allowed to leave the town, which was completely controlled by the insurgents.

US/military viewpoint "We're facing a test of will, and we will meet that test," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said

...

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq, said the Marines did not attack the mosque until it became clear that enemy fighters were inside and using it to cover their attacks.

He told CNN that under the Geneva Convention, the mosque was protected but that once attacks originated from it, its protected status was moot.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Independent
-
Patrick Cockburn
-
A GUIDED MISSILE, A MISGUIDED WAR
Specific incidents / deaths

An airborne assault on a mosque killed at least 40 worshippers attending prayers in the city of Fallujah yesterday as US-led occupation forces lost control of large parts of Iraq.

...

Witnesses said the attack came as worshippers gathered for afternoon prayers. Improvised hospitals were set up in private homes to treat the wounded and prepare the dead for burial.

...

Overall civilian casualties in Fallujah are not known but 16 children and eight women were reported to have been killed when US aircraft hit four houses on Tuesday, according to Hatem Samir, an official at Fallujah hospital.

Date killed? 7th (mosque), 6th
Total 40 (7th) +16 children +8 women (6th)=64
Civilian / Fighter 64 (40 'worshippers'' + 24 women and children)
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] At least 150 Iraqis have died west of Baghdad alone, not counting those who died at the mosque yesterday. [probably includes fighting in Ramadi etc.]
Date range? 5th-8th?
Total 150?
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

US Marines on the roads leading in and out of Fallujah were turning back all vehicles yesterday including ambulances. Anyone trying to reach the city, which has a population of 300,000, hit a dead end. Two Iraqis sitting half-concealed close to a US road-block at al-Haswa said: "You can't reach the city. The Americans have closed it off. Don't let them see you talking to us or we will be arrested."

...

Abu Hussam, an elderly man in the village of al-Haswa just east of Fallujah, said: "We were pleased when the Americans overthrew Saddam's miserable regime but today our lives are worse than they were when he ruled in Baghdad." He said he hoped the insurgents would win.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
Akram Saleh
-
FIERCE FIGHTING SWEEPS IRAQI CITIES, SHI'ITE AREAS
Specific incidents / deaths U.S.-led forces battled Sunni guerrillas and a spreading Shi'ite uprising on Wednesday, with Iraqi passions inflamed by the explosion of a rocket in the grounds of a mosque that witnesses said killed 25 people.

...

Battles raged between Marines and guerrillas in the Sunni city of Falluja and witnesses said the office of a Muslim organisation in the grounds of a mosque was hit by a rocket. Locals said at least 25 people were killed.

...

In Falluja, dozens of Iraqis were killed. Doctors said at least 36 were killed on Tuesday, and locals said the toll was much higher as many were unable to reach the main hospital.

...

Doctors said 25 of the dead were in a house destroyed by a blast. Locals said it had been hit by a missile fired by a U.S. helicopter.

Date killed? 7th, 6th
Total 25 (7th) +'at least' 36 (6th)=61
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

One mosque was being used as a makeshift morgue. The International Committee of the Red Cross appealed for access to be restored to the hospital, spokeswoman Nada Doumani said.

US/military viewpoint "Eleven Marines died while engaged with the anti-Iraqi forces for more than seven hours; one died from wounds suffered during the firefight," the U.S. military said in a statement.

...

"There had been enemy resistance and Marines have repeatedly repelled that resistance as well as conducting raids against key targets in the heart of Falluja city," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. army in Iraq, told a news conference in Baghdad.

...

President George W. Bush vowed the campaign by Sadr's supporters would not derail Washington's plans. "We will pass sovereignty on June 30," he told a campaign rally in Arkansas on Tuesday. "We're not going to be intimidated by thugs and assassins."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
9:58 Makka Time, 6:58 GMT
-
IRAQIS MARCH TO FALLUJA CARRYING AID
Specific incidents / deaths

"This only brings hatred and enmity. Americans killed 20 more people than those who are actually carrying arms. They killed the elderly praying at the mosques, as well as women and children. This is indiscriminate killing."

Date killed? 7th?
Total ?
Civilian / Fighter 20/0?
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

US accused of bombing Falluja residents

...

"No Sunni, no Shia, yes for Islamic unity. We are Sunni and Shia brothers and will never sell our country," they chanted.

...

The Iraqi Red Crescent got permission from occupation forces following negotiations over one day and one night to bring these supplies into the city, he said.

"We want to express solidarity with our brothers who are being bombed by warplanes and tanks. People donated these things, and women even sold their jewellery," he said.

"It is a form of jihad which can also come in the form of demonstrations, donations and fighting. The people who are occupied have the right to fight occupation, whatever the means they use," he said.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Sydney Morning Herald
-
8:39PM (AUS.)
-
SHI'ITE MILITIA CONTROL PARTS OF 3 IRAQI CITIES
Specific incidents / deaths

Military commanders in Iraq said a large number of insurgents were killed in the battle. Iraqi witnesses said some 40 people gathering for prayers were killed in the airstrike on the mosque compound, but US officials said they had no report of civilians killed.

...

Heavy fighting was heard today in several neighbourhoods, and US Marines grabbed rooftops of buildings, firing on gunmen in the streets and sometimes civilians who poked their heads out of their homes.

Date killed? 7th
Total 40
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Fighting this week has left 35 Americans and at least 459 Iraqis dead. This includes more than 280 Iraqis killed since the Marines' siege against insurgents in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, began early Monday said Taher Al-Issawi, the director of the city's hospital.

Date range? 5th-8th
Total 280
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

In Fallujah, Marines battled again around the Abdel-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque, which Marine Captain James Edge said insurgents were again using as a base despite a six-hour battle the day before to uproot them. Helicopters were deployed to support the Marines, he said.

...

Thousands of Iraqis marched the 60 kms from Baghdad to Fallujah to deliver food and medical supplies to its residents, under nighttime curfew and surrounded by US forces since early Monday morning. A Sunni clerics committee organised the march.

...

After searching the vehicles for weapons, the Marines allowed two ambulances full of medical supplies, two minibuses carrying vegetables and other food and a dozen cars with Sunni clerics and officials to enter the city.

US/military viewpoint

US General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said fighting in Iraq came in two broad categories.

West of Baghdad in cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi - where 12 Marines were killed Tuesday - the main opposition is "former regime loyalists," including supporters of former president Saddam Hussein and anti-American foreign fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terrorist believed linked to al-Qaeda, he said.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Agence France-Presse
-
IRAQI MARCHERS BREAK THROUGH US ROADBLOCKS IN BID TO RELIEVE REBEL BASTION
Specific incidents / deaths

"They killed the elderly praying at the mosques, as well as women and children. This is indiscriminate killing."

Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Thousands of Iraqi sympathizers, both Sunni and Shiite Muslim, forced their way through US military roadblocks in a bid to bring aid from the capital to the besieged Sunni rebel bastion of Fallujah.

Troops in armored vehicles attempted to stop the convoy of cars and pedestrians from reaching the western town where US marines have met ferocious resistance in a two-day-old offensive against the insurgents.

...

Two US Humvees attempted to stop the marchers but were forced to drive off as residents joined the marchers, shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater).

US troops armed with machine guns and backed up by armour again blocked the highway further west, but were forced to let the Iraqis past as they came under a hail of stones.

...

"No Sunnis, no Shiites, yes for Islamic unity," the marchers chanted. "We are Sunni and Shiite brothers and will never sell our country."

The marchers set off from the Um al-Qora mosque in west Baghdad where wellwishers donated food, drinks and medicine.

...

Mosque imam Sheikh Ahmad Abdel Ghafur al-Samarrai said the US-led coalition had given the Iraqi Red Crescent permission to organize a relief convoy but made no secret of his hostility to the US offensive in Fallujah.

"The Iraqi Red Crescent got permission from the coalition, following negotiations over one day and one night to bring these supplies into the city," Samarrai said.

"Baghdad residents decided to send initially 90 cars with food and medicines to Fallujah families," he told AFP.

"We want to express solidarity with our brothers who are being bombed by warplanes and tanks.

"It is a form of jihad (holy war) which can also come in the form of demonstrations, donations and fighting. The people who are occupied have the right to fight occupation, whatever the means they use."

US/military viewpoint  

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