Forces target tense Fallujah

Hundreds of insurgents arrive from other cities amid airstrikes by the U.S., which sees the city as a terrorist haven.

BAGHDAD - U.S. troops pounded Fallujah with airstrikes and tank fire Sunday, and the Iraqi government appealed to residents to expel "foreign terrorists" to prevent an all-out attack. A suicide driver in Baghdad exploded a car near a police patrol, killing at least seven people and wounding 20.

A mortar shell also exploded at a Baghdad sports stadium minutes before interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi arrived to inspect a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters. Insurgents, meanwhile, ambushed and killed nine Iraqi police officers as they were returning home from a training course in Jordan.

The escalation of fighting in Fallujah came as hundreds of insurgents arrived from other cities for a long-anticipated offensive by U.S. forces, according to witnesses. The city was nearly empty except for the insurgents, who prayed in the streets and celebrated iftar, the evening meal that marks the end of each day's fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The U.S. military has said its campaign in Fallujah is aimed at eradicating the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian linked to al-Qaida. In an allusion to Fallujah, Iraq's national security adviser, Qassem Dawoud, warned that the use of Iraqi cities as safe havens for terrorists is "something the government cannot accept or tolerate."

Fallujah fell under the control of hard-line Islamic clerics and their armed followers after U.S. Marines lifted a three-week siege in late April.

Representatives of the insurgents suspended negotiations with the government Thursday, saying the demand to turn over Zarqawi was unreasonable because he was not in Fallujah. Although some representatives indicated Sunday that they were open to further talks, the violence continued.

Throughout the day, the crackle of automatic weapons fire and the thud of artillery echoed across Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, as fighting between American troops and insurgents raged on the eastern and southern edges of the city, witnesses said.

Clashes blocked the main road leading to Baghdad, and plumes of smoke rose above the flat-roofed houses in the Askari and Shuhada neighborhoods in eastern and southern Fallujah.

Witnesses said a Humvee was seen burning in the eastern edge of the city, and hospital officials reported three civilians were killed. The U.S. military reported no casualties.

U.S. Marines said Sunday that they used small arms, tanks, artillery, mortars and seven precision airstrikes against Fallujah insurgents. The Marines said that insurgents were seen taking refuge in a mosque but that troops did not fire on them.

The car bombing occurred late Sunday in Baghdad's fashionable Jadiriyah district, home to the Australian and other embassies. The dead included four police officers and the suicide driver, according to the Interior Ministry.

As the Iraqis try to reach a peaceful end to the Fallujah standoff, the U.S. military is believed to be drafting plans for an all-out assault on the city if negotiations fail.

In London, the British Defense Ministry said the United States has asked Britain to redeploy hundreds of troops from southern Iraq amid reports the soldiers will back up the Americans in the event of a major attack on Fallujah.

Defense Minister Geoff Hoon will confirm the American request today before the House of Commons and say Britain has not decided, a ministry spokesman said.

Elsewhere, police said nine Iraqi police officers returning from training in Jordan were ambushed and killed Saturday in Latifiyah, an insurgent stronghold 25 miles south of Baghdad. The attackers escaped. Latifiyah is part of a belt of towns just south of the capital where kidnappings and ambushes have been common.

Along the Syrian border, overnight clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents left four people dead and 13 others wounded, Dr. Wael al-Duleimi said Sunday from the border town of Qaim. The city is a hotbed of insurgent activity and is believed to be a major route for smuggling weapons and fighters into Iraq.

In hopes of sparing Fallujah further violence, the city's clerics have offered to resume peace talks if the Americans stop their attacks. Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib said Fallujah's chief negotiator, Sheik Khaled al-Jumeili, will be released shortly. The cleric was arrested Friday near Fallujah after talks with the government broke down.

Iraqi officials hope that Fallujah leaders can be persuaded to negotiate a deal similar to one struck with Shiite radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end clashes in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Under the deal, Sadr's fighters have been turning in weapons for cash.

On Sunday, a mortar shell exploded at a sports stadium about 15 minutes before Allawi was to arrive to inspect the guns-for-cash program. The itinerary was quickly changed and Allawi visited several other sites before arriving at the stadium.

Allawi called on Iraqis throughout the country to surrender their weapons and to respect the rule of law and to be part of the political process.

The Iraqi government extended the weapons buyback program in Sadr City by two days in an effort to collect more arms. Members of Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, have been slow to hand in weapons, U.S. military officials said.

Lt. Col. Florentino "Lopez" Carter, task force commander for the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, which patrols Sadr City, said the effort had fallen "very short."

"I would say it certainly isn't a success," he said. "It doesn't send the right message that the Mahdi militia is focused on disarming and disbanding."

Carter said weapons have been handed over mostly by armed residents of Sadr City, and not insurgents. "The only way we can measure it is based on number of weapons they hand over, and it just is nowhere near what we know to be the large weapons caches that they have," he said.

The U.S. military said in a statement Sunday that the program was "beginning to show a glimmer of success as more medium and heavy weapons are beginning to come in."

-- Information from the Associated Press and Washington Post was used in this report.

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