Printer Friendly | Email Article | Reprints | RSS

(Page 1 of 2)

More story pictures   Related Articles Majority Want Japanese Troops Back from Iraq -Poll Portugal to Keep Force in Iraq for Elections France Says Hostages Still Alive a Few Days Ago Iraqi Interim Government Declares Emergency Law FACTBOX: Table of Military Deaths in Iraq US Soldier Killed in Baghdad Car Bombing Two British Soldiers Injured in Iraq - Ministry Iraq Militant Group Says Kills Two Arab Translators FACTBOX-Iraqi Government's Emergency Powers Suicide Bomber Attacks U.S. Convoy in Baghdad Gunmen Kill Turkish Drivers in North Iraq Iraqi Finance Minister Survives Car Bomb, 2 Dead Iraqi Officer Deserts with U.S. Falluja Battle Plan U.S. Warplanes and Artillery Pound Iraq's Falluja Iraqi Rebels Invite Media to 'Embed' in Falluja Iraq to Spend $90 Mln for Expats to Vote in Polls Powered By FeedRoom Systems Iraqi Police Station Attacked Troops Prep For Further Attacks Falluja Bombardment Intense Top News US Forces Pound Falluja Before Offensive Deputy Palestinian Minister Answers Arafat's Wife Zarqawi Group Posts Video of Attack on UK Troops MORE

NEAR FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes pounded Falluja Monday as ground troops battled guerrillas on the outskirts of the rebel-held city that American and Iraqi forces were poised to storm.

Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, declaring 60 days of emergency rule Sunday to rein in an insurgency that threatens planned nationwide elections in January, said a move to retake Falluja could not be delayed much longer.

An AC-130 gunship struck Falluja with cannon fire and machineguns as U.S. forces massed on two sides of the city where the U.S. military says 1,000 to 6,000 fighters -- Saddam Hussein supporters and foreign Islamic militants led by Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- are holed up.

A heavy bomb dropped on a target in northwest Falluja sent smoke pouring into the sky, a Reuters witness said. Smoke was also rising from western Falluja.

Iraqi troops seized Falluja's main hospital, blindfolding several people and kicking down doors but not firing a shot.

Before the hospital's telephone lines were cut, staff said several patients and workers had been detained.

Later artillery shelling and gunbattles were heard from U.S. Marine positions near the Sunni Muslim city, about 32 miles west of Baghdad, the Reuters witness said.

MASKED GUERRILLAS

Inside the city, masked guerrillas moved through empty streets with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Reuters Television footage showed one man in the western Jolan district firing a grenade launcher at an unidentified target.

Men wept as they buried seven white-shrouded bodies, some of them fighters, in a narrow trench in Falluja's makeshift graveyard in a former soccer stadium, the footage showed.

A U.S. Marine tank company and infantry unit moved to a staging area near Falluja as U.S. forces said they only awaited word from Allawi to begin an assault.    Continued ...

1 | 2   Next

More Top News US Forces Pound Falluja Before Offensive Deputy Palestinian Minister Answers Arafat's Wife Zarqawi Group Posts Video of Attack on UK Troops Bush to Seek Gay-Marriage Ban in New Term -Aide U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Optimistic Over Iran Deal MORE