Violence In Sunni Triangle

[David]

AP


U.S. Marines battled insurgents trying to sneak back into the former militant stronghold of Fallujah on Wednesday, killing three militants as violence continued to erupt across Iraq's Sunni-dominated heartland.

Heavy machine-gun fire and explosions rang out in south-central parts of Fallujah as U.S. Marines hunted fighters still in the turbulent city. In the northern Jolan neighborhood, U.S. Marines fought insurgents who officers said had sneaked back into the city by swimming across the Euphrates River.

Bullets snapped overhead as Iraqi body-collection workers supervised by the Marines sought cover behind walls and in buildings. After 15 minutes of fighting, three rebels were dead and one Marine lightly injured in the hand, officers said.

On Saturday, the U.S. military declared the one-time rebel stronghold completely occupied but not subdued after a nearly weeklong battle. But pockets of insurgents remain, and U.S. and Iraqi forces are still fighting.

"Even as we start Fallujah's reconstruction, the fighting is continuing, as you can hear," Capt. Alex Henegar, a civil affairs officer attached to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, told reporters Wednesday as heavy gunfire and grenade explosions sounded in the distance.

In other developments:


Hope faded for kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan after Al-Jazeera television announced it had a video showing a masked man shooting a blindfolded woman in the head. Hassan's family in London said they believed the longtime director of CARE's operations in Iraq was the victim. The 59-year-old Hassan, abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19 by armed gunmen, was the most prominent of more than 170 foreigners kidnapped in Iraq this year.


A car bomber rammed into a U.S. tank Wednesday in Beiji, 155 miles north of the capital, leaving at least 10 people dead in bombing and fighting, witnesses said. At least 20 others were injured by the car bomb and the heavy clashes. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military on the incident, and it was unclear whether there were any American casualties. Beiji is the site of Iraq's largest oil refinery and a major power station.


The U.S. military said it was investigating the fatal shooting of a wounded "enemy combatant" by a Marine in a Fallujah mosque over the weekend. The inquiry was begun after videotaped pool pictures taken Saturday by the U.S. network NBC showed the incident during an operation of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. The Marine was removed from the battlefield pending the results of the investigation, the military said.


Police in Karbala said Wednesday that 31 Iraqi policemen have been kidnapped in western Iraq while returning from training in Jordan. A Karbala police spokesman who spoke under condition of anonymity said that the police officers were ambushed Sunday in the town of Rutba near the Jordanian border.

Meanwhile, insurgents launched attacks across the Sunni Triangle, a large swath of land to the north and west of Baghdad where resistance to the Americans is fiercest.

South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb detonated Wednesday near an Iraqi National Guard convoy in the insurgent hotspot of Iskandariyah, killing two guardsmen and wounding three others, police and hospital officials said.

In the central city of Baqouba, insurgents attacked police headquarters with gunfire late Tuesday, then with a mortar attack Wednesday, though no casualties were reported, police said.

On Monday, U.S. troops and Iraqi forces fought insurgents in pitched battles that left at least 20 enemy fighters dead in the guerrilla hotspot of Baqouba. One Iraqi policeman and seven civilians were also killed. The Monday clashes left 15 others wounded, including four American 1st Infantry Division soldiers, the military said.

On Wednesday, a car bomb rammed into a civilian convoy along Baghdad's airport road, setting vehicles on fire, police said. American forces sealed off the area and helicopters were seen hovering overhead. It was unclear whether there were any casualties.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. Marines, freed a captive Iraqi truck driver during a raid south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

The Monday raid took place near Mahmoudiya, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Baghdad, as the joint force swept through several buildings in search of militants in the area, a military statement said. The rescued hostage, who was not identified, was taken to a nearby U.S. base, where he received medical treatment before being released.

The U.S. military said Wednesday that Mosul appeared calmer after operations to restore control in the western part of the city, with only a handful of isolated attacks with small arms fire.

"It's been quiet overnight. We'll continue with operations to clear out the last remaining pockets of the insurgency," said Capt. Angela Bowman, with Task Force Olympia.

Troops met "very little resistance" Tuesday in securing several of the dozen or so police stations that had been captured by insurgents, the U.S. military command said. Mortar shells hit two areas near the main government building in the city center, killing three civilians and wounding 25, hospital officials said. One American soldier was wounded when a car bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy in western Mosul, the military said.

The U.S.-led offensive is aimed at seizing control of the city 225 miles north of Baghdad, where gunmen stormed police stations, bridges and political offices last week.