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Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004

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  The large number of wounded sent to Germany suggests that fighting might 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" had 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.

Deadly Bomb in Baghdad

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 might 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.

'Hostage Slaughterhouses'

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 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, embedded BBC 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.

Terrorists Once Again Exploit Mosques as Forts

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 air strike, 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.

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.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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