U.S. warplanes struck twice in insurgent-held
Fallujah, destroying a popular restaurant and a house which the U.S. command
said were used by members of Iraq's most feared terrorist organization. At least
five people were killed and two wounded, the city hospital said.
More airstrikes were reported near Qaim, where hospital officials said at
least 15 Iraqis were killed, and in Hit, where two bodies were brought to a
hospital. U.S. officials had no immediate comment on the reported strikes.
A 12:01 a.m. blast flattened the Haj Hussein restaurant in Fallujah as well
as nearby shops, residents said. The restaurant was closed, but two night guards
were killed, said Dr. Ahmed Thaer of Fallujah General Hospital.
The U.S. military command in Baghdad made no mention of the restaurant but
said the target was used as a meeting place for the Tawhid and Jihad terror
network, led by Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The second blast occurred at 4:02 a.m. and flattened a building in
northeastern Fallujah that the military said was a known terrorist safe house.
Intelligence sources confirmed that al-Zarqawi associates were using the
building at the time of the strike, a military statement said.
At least three people were killed and two wounded in that blast, Thaer said.
Al-Zarqawi's network has claimed responsibility for car bombings, kidnappings
and beheadings of foreign hostages.
Despite the overnight attacks, a delegation from Fallujah met in Baghdad on
Tuesday with Iraqi officials as part of a series of talks aimed at restoring
government control. Both sides report good progress and the main unresolved
issues involve terms under which the Iraqi National Guard would enter the city
to maintain order.
Tuesday's strikes were the first since Oct. 6.
Also Tuesday, residents said American warplanes struck a civil defense
compound east of Qaim, near the Syrian border. City hospital official Hamid
Ahmed Ali said between 15 and 20 people were killed in the strike.
U.S. Marines said one of their patrols in Qaim took fire about 6 a.m., but
there were no American casualties.
American warplanes and helicopters struck in two parts of Hit, killing two
people and injuring five, the hospital said. Residents went to the town hall to
demand authorities negotiate a cease-fire.
On Monday, U.S. aircraft attacked a mosque and set it ablaze after insurgents
hiding inside opened fire on American Marines, the U.S. military said. Sporadic
clashes continued through the night, killing at least two Iraqis and wounding
15, according to Hit General Hospital.
In nearby Ramadi, Iraqi forces backed by U.S. soldiers and Marines raided
seven mosques in suspected of harboring terrorists, storing weapons, promoting
violence and encouraging insurgent recruitment, the U.S. command said.
Sheikh Abdul-Aleim Saadi, the provincial leader of the influential
Association of Muslim Scholars, was detained at Mohammed Aref Mosque, his
relatives and followers said.
Angry residents accused Americans of breaking down doors and violating the
sanctity of city mosques.
"This cowboy behavior cannot be accepted," said cleric Abdullah Abu Omar of
the Ramadi Mosque. "The Americans seem to have lost their senses and have gone
out of control."
The 1st Marine Division said the raids followed a pattern of insurgent
activity in and around Ramadi mosques recently. The city 70 miles west of
Baghdad has seen fierce clashes between U.S. and insurgent forces in recent
days.
"The 1st Marine Division respects the religious and cultural significance
represented by mosques," it said. "However, when insurgents violate the sanctity
of the mosque by using the structure for military purposes, the site loses its
protective status."
Marines and soldiers provided backup and protection for Iraqi security forces
in the raids but did not enter the mosques, said Maj. Francis Piccoli, a Marine
spokesman.
U.S. and Iraqi forces appear to have stepped up military activity in the
region north and west of Baghdad, a Sunni militant stronghold, ahead of the
Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which saw an upsurge in rebel attacks last year.
Ramadan, four weeks when Muslims fast and abstain from sex between dawn and
dusk, begins about Oct. 15 with the sighting of a new moon.
The latest violence came as Shiite fighters in Baghdad's Sadr City unloaded
cars full of machine guns and grenade launchers on the second day of a five-day,
weapons-for-cash disarmament program. A lasting peace in the sprawling slum
would allow U.S. and Iraqi forces to focus on the mounting Sunni insurgency in
Fallujah, Ramadi and elsewhere.
Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr promised the government
they would hand over medium and heavy weapons for cash in a deal considered an
important step toward ending weeks of fighting with U.S. and Iraqi forces. Iraqi
police and National Guardsmen will then assume security responsibility for the
district, which is home to more than 2 million people.
In return, the government has pledged to start releasing al-Sadr followers
who have not committed crimes, suspend raids and rebuild the war-ravaged slum.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on a trip to Romania, said he was
following the disarming of al-Sadr's followers.
"It is true, some elements are turning in some weapons," he said, adding that
it was too early to know its significance or whether it would continue. "One
hopes that over time, all of them will" turn in their weapons, he said.
In other violence Tuesday:
_ Unknown assailants shot and killed Abdul Majeed al-Antar, a member of the
Nineveh provincial council, as he was en route to his office in Mosul, a council
spokesman said. Insurgents regularly target government officials perceived as
collaborators with U.S. forces, and Nineveh has seen a number of similar
attacks, including the high-profile killing of the provincial governor in July.
_ A bomb planted in a trash can in Basra exploded outside the complex of the
British and American consulates as a British convoy drove out, police said. No
major casualties were reported.
_ Iraqi National Guardsmen detained eight people Monday wanted for planting
roadside bombs in the northern city of Tal Afar, scene of heavy fighting last,
the military said. Improvised explosives are among the biggest killers of
American forces in Iraq.
