Massive US attack on Fallujah
2004-11-05 07:36
Fallujah, Iraq - US warplanes launched five air strikes against suspected insurgent positions in Fallujah in the last 24 hours ahead of an anticipated assault on the rebel-held Iraqi city, the US military said on Friday.
"Iraqi security forces and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force continue to degrade and disrupt anti-Iraqi forces in the Fallujah-Ramadi area," a military statement said.
Beginning at 16:40 (13:40 GMT) on Thursday and ending at 01:10 on Friday, US war planes supporting US marines on the ground destroyed suspected rebel fortifications and a weapons cache in the southeast and northern Fallujah, the military said.
Since Monday, Multi-National Forces-West have also captured and destroyed large numbers of mortars, rockets and other explosives.
The stepped-up strikes against Fallujah came after the re-election of US President George W Bush, who pledged to ensure that elections due to be held in Iraq in January are a success.
Thousands of residents have fled the Sunni Muslim bastion since the US military began a campaign of air strikes during the summer in the hunt for Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers who are believed to use the city as an operating base.
Zarqawi, a Jordanian national who is Iraq's most wanted man, is blamed for some of the worst bombings and kidnappings in the country since last year's US-led invasion.
US ground troops have encircled Fallujah since mid-October, and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued an ultimatum to the city on Sunday to surrender insurgents holed up inside or face an all-out military assault.
- AFP