8 killed in Fallujah clashes

2004-04-26 18:17

Baghdad - Eight Iraqi rebels were killed and at least four United States marines wounded in fierce fighting in the besieged city of Fallujah on Monday while a powerful blast at a Baghdad chemical plant claimed two lives.

Vital oil exports from Iraq's main southern terminals resumed after a brief halt caused by foiled suicide-boat raids at the weekend which saw crude prices spike higher on the London market.

And radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr, holed up in the holy city of Najaf, again warned the US military its troops would feel the "fires of hell" if they carried out their threat to kill or capture him.

In the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah, eight rebels were killed and four marines injured as fierce fighting further rattled an uneasy ceasefire, said US military officials.

"Initial reports were eight enemy killed and four marines wounded," said Colonel John Coleman, chief of staff for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told reporters.

Cranking up the pressure

Marines were fired on from a mosque which was then targeted by US forces and the minaret destroyed, a reporter told CNN. He said another six marines were injured by shrapnel, but the reports could not be confirmed.

Plumes of black smoke rose from buildings in Fallujah, where joint patrols between marines and Iraqi security forces were expected to start this week after an apparent easing of tensions.

Senior coalition military officials had previously been cranking up the pressure on militants in the city, warning that "time is running out" to hand over heavy weapons as agreed a week ago and threatened a renewed offensive.

But the US-led coalition said marines would join Iraqi forces to conduct joint patrols in Fallujah, scene of the worst fighting since the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq last year with hundreds of Iraqis and scores of US troops killed.

Another two people were killed when an explosion tore through two chemical laboratories in northern Baghdad as US soldiers were inspecting the facility, flattening a nearby house and sending plumes of thick, black smoke into the sky.

An Iraqi policeman, who refused to give his name, said he saw three US soldiers wounded or killed in each vehicle. Another four people were wounded in the blast, including two children, witnesses said.

Makeshift bombs

Amr al-Tay, a journalist with London-based Arabic language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat whose office is located nearby, said US soldiers regularly came to search the labs where they suspected explosives were being manufactured for makeshift bombs.

Meanwhile, Iraq's vital southern oil terminals were back in operation after being shut down by suicide attacks that killed three US sailors, said interim Iraqi oil minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum.

But the attacks on the terminals, where up to 90% of Iraq's oil exports are loaded, caused worries on world markets, where oil prices rose in London trade.

- AFP