U.S. Estimates 600 Iraq Insurgents Killed
Nov 11, 9:21 AM (ET)
By EDWARD HARRIS
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - U.S. warplanes and artillery bombarded southern parts of
Fallujah where troops were trying to squeeze Sunni fighters in a smaller and
smaller cordon Thursday. The military estimated 600 insurgents have been killed
in the offensive but acknowledged success in the city won't break Iraq's
insurgency.
The huge Fallujah campaign has also sent a stream of American wounded to the
military's main hospital in Europe. Planes carrying around 90 bloodied and
broken troops were expected Thursday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in
Germany. They join 125 wounded soldiers flown there already this week.
The large number of wounded sent to Germany suggests that fighting may be more
intense - at least in some areas - than the military had initially indicated.
Only seriously wounded troops are flown to Landstuhl.
At least 13 U.S. soldiers and Marines have been killed so far in the Fallujah
operation, according to military reports pieced together since Monday. The
military has been slow in releasing official, comprehensive reports, citing
security.
Military officials cautioned that the figure of 600 insurgents killed in
Fallujah was only a rough estimate. Some 1,200 to 3,000 fighters were believed
holed up in the city before the offensive. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen.
Richard Myers said Thursday that "hundreds and hundreds of insurgents" have
been killed and captured.
The number of civilian casualties in the city is not known. Most of the city's
200,000-300,000 residents are thought to have fled before the offensive. The
rest have been hunkered down in their homes without electricity during days of
heavy barrages, with food supplies reported low.
In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded on a central commercial street Thursday
morning, killing at least 17 people and wounding at least eight, police said.
It was the latest in a wave of attacks that insurgents have unleashed this
week, trying to divert U.S. and Iraqi forces and show they can still wage their
campaign of violence despite the Fallujah assault.
The car bomb - the second one in as many days in the capital - narrowly missed
a U.S. patrol on Saadoun Street but ripped through the crowded thoroughfare,
near major hotels housing foreigners. Huge plumes of black smoke rose in the
air as a dozen mangled cars burned, and bystanders pulled bodies and bloodied
survivors from the rubble.
In Fallujah, U.S. troops were steadily advancing through the city from the
northern side, pushing militants slowly into the southern half. With U.S. units
positioned to the south and east, and the Euphrates River on the west,
insurgents are being squeezed into a corner, the military said.
Loud explosions rocked the city throughout the morning as gunfire reverberated
across town and helicopters hovered overhead. Marines were seen perched on
rooftops. Many buildings were heavily damaged, with few signs of civilians.
Gen. Myers, speaking on NBC's "Today" show, called the offensive "very, very
successful."
But, he added, "If anybody thinks that Fallujah is going to be the end of the
insurgency in Iraq, that was never the objective, never our intention, and even
never our hope."
U.S. officers in Fallujah have said many insurgents may have abandoned the city
- long their strongest bastion - before the U.S. assault and moved elsewhere to
continue their campaign of attacks.
"There has always been pockets of resistance in this type of fighting, just
like there was in World War II - we would claim an island is secure and fight
them for months after that," Marine Capt. John Griffin said. "Claiming the city
is secure doesn't actually mean that all the resistance is gone, it just means
that we have secured the area and have control."
In the past 24 hours of fighting, three Americans were killed and another 17
wounded in Fallujah, commanders said. The military on Tuesday put the total
American toll in the operation at 10.
Two Marine Super Cobra attack helicopters were hit by ground fire and forced to
land in separate incidents near Fallujah, the military said Thursday. The crews
were not injured and were rescued.
With American troops in control of large swaths of the city, an Iraqi commander
reported the discovery of "hostage slaughterhouses" in which foreign captives
had been killed. Documents of hostages were found, along with CDs showing
beheadings and the black clothes of kidnappers, he said.
U.S. troops also discovered an Iraqi man chained to a wall in a building in
northeastern Fallujah, the military said Thursday. The man, who was shackled at
the ankles and wrists, bruised and starving, told Marines he was a taxi driver
abducted 10 days ago and that his captors had beat him with cables.
Three other Iraqi captives - contractors who had been working on U.S. bases and
had been abducted a week ago - were also found, BBC embedded correspondent
Jennifer Glasse said.
The three men were found blindfolded, handcuffed and in a locked room. Six
suspected militants were detained in the raid on the building, where Marines
also uncovered surface-to-air missiles, night-vision equipment, black uniforms,
computers, weapons and videos showing torture of hostages.
Officials have not identified any of the hostages seen in discovered CDs. More
than 30 foreign hostages have been killed in Iraq, and at least nine are still
in kidnappers' hands.
In what could be a sign of progress, the Marines began turning over the
northern neighborhood of Jolan to Iraqi forces, signaling that they consider
the area relatively secure. Jolan, a dense, historic district of tight
alleyways, was considered one of the strongest positions held by militants
inside Fallujah and parts of it saw heavy fighting.
In one of the most dramatic clashes Wednesday, snipers fired on U.S. and Iraqi
troops from the minarets of the Khulafah al-Rashid mosque, the military said.
U.S. Marines called in an airstrike, and an F-18 dropped a 500-pound bomb on
the mosque, destroying both minarets.
Pool footage showed U.S. forces battling insurgents in a neighborhood
surrounding the mosque. Troops were pinned down by gunfire on a rooftop, forced
to hit the deck and lay on their stomachs.
U.S. troops were also skirmishing with insurgents late Wednesday in Fallujah's
Wihdah and Muhandiseen neighborhoods, according to Iraqi journalist Abdul Qader
Saadi, who said he saw burnt armored vehicles and tanks and bodies in the
streets.
The U.S. military has sent up to 15,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops into the Fallujah
battle.
Meanwhile, rebels have continued heavy attacks elsewhere. At least 28 people
were killed in violence outside Fallujah Wednesday - including 10 killed in a
Baghdad car bomb.
A car bomb in northern Iraq targeted the convoy of the governor of Kirkuk, who
escaped, but a bystander was killed and 14 others were wounded, police said.
Militants kidnapped three relatives of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, and a
militant group on Wednesday threatened to behead the three in 48 hours unless
the Fallujah siege is halted. Militants also claimed to have abducted 20 Iraqi
National Guard troops in Fallujah.
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jim Krane near
Fallujah; and Tini Tran, Sameer N. Yacoub, Mariam Fam, Sabah Jerges, Katarina
Kratovac and Maggie Michael in Baghdad.
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