Foreign fighters fled Fallujah
2004-11-18 22:12
Washington - Most foreign fighters battling alongside Iraqi "insurgents" in Fallujah left the city before or in the early stages of the assault by US and Iraqi forces, Centcom said on Thursday.
"A lot of the foreign fighters left Fallujah in the early days," said Lieutenant-General Lance Smith, deputy commander of Centcom, noting it had been a "well adverstised campaign."
"A lot of them moved out of there.
Some suicidal types stayed behind, but others moved out.
Some went back home, others went to Ramdi, Mosul and most likely Baghdad to fight another day," he added.
Of the about 1 000 people detained by the US military after fighting in Fallujah fewer than 2% are of foreign origin, Smith said. But he said they were much more numerous across Iraq.
"Up to 1 000 (in Iraq) could be foreign fighters," he said, noting that "suicide jihad is not particular to the Iraqi way".
He acknowledged that it was difficult to nail down the figure adding that "they don't always carry ID cards".
About 140 000 US military troops are currently mobilized in Iraq, Smith said.
Insurgents killed a US marine and an Iraqi soldier in Fallujah on Thursday, raising the coalition toll in the fighting to retake the city to 51 US dead and eight Iraqis, the top US marine commander there said.
Lieutenant-General John Sattler, commander of the 1st marine expeditionary force, said the two were killed after insurgents opened fire on marines clearing a building in the southwestern sector of the city just before sunset on Thursday.