Fallujah residents flee city

2004-11-06 09:03

Fallujah - United States war planes struck suspected rebel targets in Iraq's flashpoint cities of Fallujah and Ramadi over 24 hours, the military said Saturday, as the threat of all-out action loomed.

The aerial bombardment accompanied increased ground fire on Fallujah in a bid to turn up the heat on the insurgents believed to be holed up inside.

"First Marine Expeditionary Force conducted co-ordinated offensive operations in and around the Fallujah-Ramadi area," the military said in a statement, without specifying where the strikes occurred.

It "destroyed three barricaded fighting positions, an anti-aircraft weapon and a weapons cache."

Air raids

The latest wave of four air raids started at 03:30 on Friday and finished at 12:20 on Saturday.

More than 1 000 US and Iraqi troops have gathered around the fringe of Fallujah, 50km west of Baghdad since mid-October, while the US military is doubling its manpower in Ramadi to 2 000 amid expectations of a two-pronged show-down to crush Iraq's rebel nerve centres.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Friday from Brussels that the chance for a peaceful resolution of the standoff was dimming.

It is estimated that many of Fallujah's 300 000 inhabitants have already fled to makeshift camps to the west or sought refuge in Baghdad, and US planes have been dropping leaflets urging those few remaining to leave.

All roads in and out of the city have been closed except for possibly one rural road through the towns of Khan Dhari and Amiryat al-Fallujah west of Baghdad, which was last reported to be open on Thursday.

A government-backed delegation of four members of the interim parliament has attempted to find a peaceful solution to the crisis by talking to leaders from Fallujah, but hopes are fading fast. - AFP

- SAPA