Iraq

Troops follow bombs into insurgents' lair

Two Marines die when their bulldozer flips; 42 insurgents are killed as main assault takes hold.

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. troops backed by thunderous air and artillery barrages launched a ground offensive Monday to seize key insurgent strongholds inside Fallujah, the city that became Iraq's major sanctuary for Islamic extremists who fought Marines to a standstill last April.

Two Marines were killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates near Fallujah, and a military spokesman estimated 42 insurgents were killed across the city in bombardment and skirmishes before the main assault began.

Hours after starting the offensive, U.S. tanks and Humvees from the 1st Infantry Division entered the northeastern Askari neighborhood, the first ground assault into an insurgent bastion.

In the northwestern area of the city, U.S. troops advanced slowly after dusk on the Jolan neighborhood, a warren of alleyways where Sunni militants have dug in. Artillery, tanks and warplanes pounded the district's northern edge, softening the defenses and trying to set off any bombs or boobytraps planted by the militants.

Heavy firing continued before dawn today, and residents reached by satellite telephone reported the constant drone of warplanes overhead.

U.S. troops cut off electricity to the city, and most private generators were not working.

Residents said they were without running water and were worried about food shortages because most shops in the city have been closed for two days.

Masked insurgents roamed Fallujah streets throughout the day. One group of four fighters, two of them draped with belts of ammunition, moved through narrow passageways, firing on U.S. forces with small arms and mortars. Mosque loudspeakers blared, "God is great, God is great."

Just outside the Jolan and Askari neighborhoods, Iraqi troops deployed with U.S. forces took over a train station after the Americans fired on it to drive off fighters.

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, predicted a "major confrontation" in the operation he said was called al-Fajr, Arabic for "dawn." He told reporters in Washington that 10,000 to 15,000 U.S. troops along with a smaller number of Iraqi forces were encircling the city.

Overall, the main force did not appear to have moved deeply into Fallujah on Monday, the first full day of the operation. Most U.S. units appeared to be lined up at the edge of their neighborhoods with some scouts and perhaps special operators venturing inside.

The offensive is considered the most important military effort to re-establish government control over Sunni strongholds west of Baghdad before elections in January.

"One part of the country cannot remain under the rule of assassins ... and the remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. He predicted, "There aren't going be large numbers of civilians killed and certainly not by U.S. forces."

A doctor at a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer, reported 12 people were killed. Seventeen others, including a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were wounded, he said.

About 3,000 insurgents were barricaded in Fallujah, U.S. commanders have estimated. Casey said some insurgents slipped away but others "have moved in." U.S. military officials believe 20 percent of Fallujah's fighters are foreigners, who are believed to be followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Casey said 50 to 70 percent of the city's 200,000 residents have fled. The numbers are in dispute, however, with some putting the population at 300,000. Residents said about half that number left in October, but many drifted back.

Some 5,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers were massed in the desert on Fallujah's northern edge. They were joined by 2,000 to 4,000 Iraqi troops.

Rumsfeld called reports of some Iraqi recruits not showing up to fight "an isolated problem," and Casey said the no-shows "did not have a significant impact" on the operation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who gave the green light for the offensive, also announced a round-the-clock curfew in Fallujah and another nearby insurgent stronghold, Ramadi.

"The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage ... and you need to free them from their grip," he told Iraqi soldiers who swarmed around him during a visit to the main U.S. base outside Fallujah.

"May they go to hell!" the soldiers shouted, and Allawi replied: "To hell they will go."

U.S. commanders have avoided any public estimate on how long it may take to capture Fallujah, where insurgents fought Marines to a standstill last April in a three-week siege. The length and ferocity of the battle depends greatly on whether the bulk of the defenders decide to risk destruction of the city or try to slip away in the face of overwhelming force.

Rumsfeld said insurgents would likely put up a tough fight. "Listen, these folks are determined. These are killers. They chop people's heads off. They're getting money from around the world. They're getting recruits," he told reporters.

But the Iraqi defense minister, Hazem Shaalan al-Khuzaei, told Al-Arabiya television that he expected the resistance to crumble quickly.

"God willing, it will not be long; it will take a very short period of time," he said, adding that the insurgents might use the civilians as human shields.

The prelude to the Fallujah ground offensive was a crushing air and artillery bombardment that built from the night before, through Monday morning and afternoon, then rose Monday night - with U.S. jets dropping bombs constantly and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.

Earlier Monday, U.S. and Iraqi forces seized two bridges over the Euphrates River and a hospital on Fallujah's western edge that they said was under insurgents' control. A team of Marines entered northwestern Fallujah and seized an apartment building.

Capt. Jonathan Riley, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command Air Forces in Qatar, told the AP that an unmanned MQ-1 Predator plane fired a Hellfire missile at an insurgents' antiaircraft artillery battery, scoring a direct hit.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerics group that has threatened to boycott elections, condemned the assault on Fallujah, calling it "an illegal and illegitimate action against civilian and innocent people."

Arab leaders were muted in their response to the offensive. Media attention focused on ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which may explain in part why the start of the Fallujah campaign elicited none of the uproar that met the American attempt to storm the insurgent stronghold in April.

At that time, U.S. troops were closing in on the city center when popular uprisings broke out in cities across Iraq. The outrage, fed by mostly unconfirmed reports of large civilian casualties, forced the Americans to withdraw.

U.S. commanders regarded the reports as inflated, but it was impossible to determine independently how many civilians had been killed. The hospital was selected as an early target because the American military believed that it was the source of rumors about heavy casualties.

- Information from the New York Times was used in this report.

Religiously conservative Sunni Muslim city; stronghold of support for Saddam Hussein; part of so-called Sunni Triangle.

Resentment of U.S. presence heightened when American troops fired twice on crowds during last year's invasion, killing 18 Iraqis. Tensions rose this spring during numerous U.S. patrols and raids on houses. In March, four U.S. contractors were killed and their bodies mutilated.

Marines laid siege to the city in April until security was handed over to a local force. The security plan failed and, in June, the city fell under insurgent control. Many were drawn to the city, but it's unclear how many remain.

The United States says terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is based in Fallujah.

The legitimacy of Iraqi elections, coming in January, would be questioned if Fallujah's residents don't participate.

- Sources: Associated Press, Times wires

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