Assault on Besieged Falluja under Way

Assault on Besieged Falluja under Way
US forces have struck a railway station inside Falluja with small arms and tank machinegun fire as fighting raged in the besieged Iraqi city. US warplanes staged ferocious strikes on targets in Falluja after interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gave US-led forces the go-ahead for a full-scale attack on city on Monday afternoon. Aircraft struck about eight times in 20 minutes, sending huge plumes of smoke billowing up from the north-west of the city, where US-led forces are about to launch an offensive. Medical sources told Aljazeera that 12 people had been killed and double that number injured during clashes between fighters and US forces. Abu Bakr al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi journalist, told Aljazeera the clashes were the most violent the city has witnessed since April 2003. "US tanks, armoured vehicles, F16 and C130 fighters are taking part in the attack on Falluja," al-Dulaimi said. "Violent clashes are now going on in the western areas of the city. US forces are backed by tanks and helicopters", he added. "Clashes have also erupted in Julan neighbourhood. Resistance in these areas is fierce," he said. "The city's defenders are responding to the US attacks with everything at their disposal." **US forces hit*** According to the journalist, the clashes also spread to the western parts of the city including al-Jisrain area. US F16 fighters also bombed sites in northeast Falluja. Fighters caused damage to the advancing US forces hitting two tanks in the north western area of Saqlawiya and seven oil tankers in Qarma in the northeast. "An unmanned aircraft was downed in central Falluja and a US military vehicle was burnt behind the new bridge," said al-Dulaimi. Falluja's Shura (consultation) Mujahidin Council called for international intervention to halt the assault. It also called on the resistance fighters in other Iraqi cities to come to Falluja's aid. Earlier on Monday, US marines seized control of land around the hospital on the western edge of the city, witnesses said. Allawi said he had given US and Iraqi forces the green light to clear the rebel-held city of Falluja of "terrorists". **Sealed off*** The US army closed all roads leading to the besieged city after Iraq's interim government declared a state of emergency throughout the country excluding Kurdish areas, sources told Aljazeera. Nearly 20,000 US and Iraqi soldiers and marines are camped around the city awaiting orders to move in. The US military says 1000 to 6000 fighters - Saddam Hussein supporters and foreign fighters led by al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - are holed up in Falluja's alleyways and on rooftops. Peace talks between the interim government and Falluja have fallen through several times, most recently last month when Allawi threatened another attack if residents did not surrender al-Zarqawi and other suspected al-Qaida linked fighters. But residents of Falluja say neither al-Zarqawi nor members of al-Qaida are in the city. **PHOTO CAPTION*** U.S. soldiers lift one of three bodies into a military medical evacuation vehicle, November 8, 2004. (Reuters)

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