Brandon
Apr 10th, 2004, 02:52 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/10/iraq.main/index.html
Coalition sends reinforcements to Fallujah
Saturday, April 10, 2004 Posted: 2:06 PM EDT (1806 GMT)
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Coalition commanders sent reinforcements to the beseiged Sunni Triangle city of Fallujah on Saturday, as they worked to arrange a cease-fire with insurgents there, a top U.S. military spokesman said.
Brig. Gen Mark Kimmitt said that another battalion of U.S. Marines has been sent to the city. Two Marine batallions are already there, along with a fourth battalion that includes members of the Iraq Civil Defense Corps.
Despite a pause in coalition offensive operations and a call for a cease-fire in the city of 200,000 people, "the enemy seems to continue to fight," Kimmitt said.
Coalition forces were still taking small arms and mortar fire, and are "responding to enemy provocations and attacks," he said.
"Maybe there is a communications problem -- that we have not gotten the message out to the leadership; it may be that there is no leadership; or it may be that they have chosen to fight. If it is the latter, that's probably the wrong decision to be making," Kimmitt said in a Saturday news conference.
Earlier Saturday, coalition officials urged insurgents who control the central city to lay down their arms and agree to a bilateral cease-fire.
Iraqi Governing Council members met with Fallujah leaders and leadership of the anti-coalition forces to try to bring calm.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have captured 60 anti-coalition insurgents in the last few days in Fallujah, Kimmitt said, including five fighters from Egypt, Sudan and Syria.
He said those detainees have not been implicated in the March 31 killing and mutilation of four U.S. security contractors in Fallujah.
One witness described Fallujah as a "ghost town" dominated by fighting and evacuated by residents.
Coalition forces suspended their offensive around noon on Friday to allow Iraqis to bury their dead and aid supplies to be brought into the city.
U.S. Marines were letting only women, children and the elderly out of the city, while allowing humanitarian supplies, such as food and medical supplies, to enter.
In other cities around Iraq, fighting continues. In the southern city of Kut, U.S. troops battled the banned militia loyal to militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The coalition said on Saturday it has control over about 70 percent of Kut.
The coalition had seized control of the radio and television station by Saturday, as well as a key bridge that provides access to all routes into the city.
The U.S. forces killed 17 militia fighters and captured 55 in Kut, according to the U.S. Army.
Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army controls parts of Karbala and all of the holy city of Najaf.
Coalition sends reinforcements to Fallujah
Saturday, April 10, 2004 Posted: 2:06 PM EDT (1806 GMT)
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Coalition commanders sent reinforcements to the beseiged Sunni Triangle city of Fallujah on Saturday, as they worked to arrange a cease-fire with insurgents there, a top U.S. military spokesman said.
Brig. Gen Mark Kimmitt said that another battalion of U.S. Marines has been sent to the city. Two Marine batallions are already there, along with a fourth battalion that includes members of the Iraq Civil Defense Corps.
Despite a pause in coalition offensive operations and a call for a cease-fire in the city of 200,000 people, "the enemy seems to continue to fight," Kimmitt said.
Coalition forces were still taking small arms and mortar fire, and are "responding to enemy provocations and attacks," he said.
"Maybe there is a communications problem -- that we have not gotten the message out to the leadership; it may be that there is no leadership; or it may be that they have chosen to fight. If it is the latter, that's probably the wrong decision to be making," Kimmitt said in a Saturday news conference.
Earlier Saturday, coalition officials urged insurgents who control the central city to lay down their arms and agree to a bilateral cease-fire.
Iraqi Governing Council members met with Fallujah leaders and leadership of the anti-coalition forces to try to bring calm.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have captured 60 anti-coalition insurgents in the last few days in Fallujah, Kimmitt said, including five fighters from Egypt, Sudan and Syria.
He said those detainees have not been implicated in the March 31 killing and mutilation of four U.S. security contractors in Fallujah.
One witness described Fallujah as a "ghost town" dominated by fighting and evacuated by residents.
Coalition forces suspended their offensive around noon on Friday to allow Iraqis to bury their dead and aid supplies to be brought into the city.
U.S. Marines were letting only women, children and the elderly out of the city, while allowing humanitarian supplies, such as food and medical supplies, to enter.
In other cities around Iraq, fighting continues. In the southern city of Kut, U.S. troops battled the banned militia loyal to militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The coalition said on Saturday it has control over about 70 percent of Kut.
The coalition had seized control of the radio and television station by Saturday, as well as a key bridge that provides access to all routes into the city.
The U.S. forces killed 17 militia fighters and captured 55 in Kut, according to the U.S. Army.
Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army controls parts of Karbala and all of the holy city of Najaf.