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Reference

Falluja Archive Oct 2004

Falluja Table - May 06

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IBC Extracted Falluja News - May 06

News Source
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Author
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Title
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
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IRAQ: CIVILIANS CAUGHT IN FALLUJAH CROSSFIRE TELL THEIR STORY
Specific incidents / deaths

Coalition helicopters and aircraft bombed her house, killing 13 of her relatives and leaving Muhaye Ahmed, 17, with shrapnel in her legs, she told IRIN from her bed in a makeshift hospital on the outskirts of the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the capital, Baghdad.

"We were sleeping when we woke up to bombing in our village. When they bombed our house, we tried to run away like mice," Ahmed said.

US Marine spokesman Major T.V. Johnson confirmed that many women and children were among those injured and killed, without giving specific numbers. He said a C-130 aircraft engaged anti-Coalition insurgents after US troops saw 10 fighters with weapons get a mortar tube from a vehicle before returning to the compound. Johnson said other people with weapons were waiting in the compound.

"These guys should never have been in these houses in the first place," Johnson told IRIN in Baghdad. "Our enemy doesn't really wear a uniform. But we have taken deliberate steps to minimise civilian casualties," he stressed.

Ahmed's cousin had to have her foot amputated after it was mangled by the bomb on 24 April. She declined to talk to visitors and stared at the wall bitterly as her relatives pulled up a blanket to show her bandaged stump.

Bits of what look like human hair and skin were burned onto the wall of the bombed compound in the clash in the farming village on the outskirts of Fallujah. More than 21 people were injured in addition to the 13 killed, Ahmed al-Zawahra, administrator at the Jordanian field hospital on the outskirts of Fallujah, told IRIN.

Date killed? 24th
Total

13 (relatives of Muhaye Ahmed, in village on outskirts of Falluja)

Civilian / Fighter

 

Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Fighting between US Marines and Iraqi insurgents in and around the restive city of Fallujah has left more than 100 Marines and up to 700 Iraqis dead in the last three weeks.

Date range? 'last three weeks'
Total 'up to' 700
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

US/military viewpoint

 

News Source
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Author
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Title
Agence France-Presse
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AFTER THE FALLUJAH FIGHTING, US MARINES BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint

Now that the fighting in Fallujah has died down, US marines have launched a battle for the hearts and minds of Iraqis in and around this city that has come to symbolize the anti-coalition insurgency.

While they stay away from the Jolan neighborhood where the fiercest fighting took place over the past weeks, marines are meeting with residents and community leaders to offer compensation for battle damage and to seek goodwill.

They already have settled dozens of smaller claims -- for cows killed in the crossfire, buildings damaged by gunfire or power lines downed in firefights.

...

The troops also handed out military rations, packed in cartons stating the contents were "Halal", or permissible under Islamic law.

"By us being out here, we have caused some discomfort, we would like to give you food and water," said Captain Jeff Stevenson, who commands the marine unit.

But one group of men turned down the offer of food. "We don't need it," said Mohammed Naif, whose comparatively new SUV suggested he was a man of some wealth.

The Iraqis did, however, ask that the marines open the nearby road to Jolan, one of the positions still sealed off by the US troops who besieged Fallujah for almost one month.

...

It was not clear when they would leave their last toehold in the city, but they have made it clear they intend to return eventually to help in reconstruction, with 77 million dollars promised for the flashpoint city.

Coughlin is confident the US-led coalition eventually will win the battle for Fallujah.

"The hearts and minds campaign can be won, depending on how we deal with people in the community," he said as a convoy of military vehicles raced across a bone-dry field, raising a storm of dust over the small village.

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