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U.S. strikes Zarqawi network, killing 16
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-26 08:27 U.S. warplanes, tanks and artillery repeatedly hit
at Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah
on Saturday, while two British Muslim leaders came to Baghdad to try to convince
his followers to release a British hostage.
The strikes in Fallujah targeted two buildings where militants were allegedly
meeting and a cluster of rebel-built fortifications used to mount attacks on
nearby Marine positions, the U.S. military said. Doctors said 16 people were
killed and 37 wounded.
In other violence, an American soldier was reported killed by a bomb
Saturday, and the U.S. military said four Marines died in separate incidents
Friday. A statement said the Marines were involved in a security operation in
Anbar province, which includes Fallujah, Ramadi and other places that see
frequent clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents. No further details were
disclosed.
In Baghdad, gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying Iraqi National Guard
applicants, killing six people, police said. It was the latest attack in a
militant campaign that targets Iraqi security units and recruits in hopes of
undermining U.S.-backed efforts to build an Iraqi force capable of taking over
security from American troops.
The National Guard also clashed with unidentified gunmen in Haswa, south of
the capital, injuring four people, hospital officials said. The shooting lasted
about a half hour, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, five mortar shells struck the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad,
shattering windows and causing minor damage to the building, ministry spokesman
Assem Jihad said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Several explosions rocked the Iraqi capital late Saturday, but it was not
immediately clear what caused the blasts. The military had no immediate comment
In Fallujah, explosions lit up the night sky for hours before dawn Saturday
and at least two buildings in the city center were wrecked, witnesses said. The
Fallujah mosque switched on its loudspeakers and clerics chanted prayers to
rally the city's residents. Doctors said eight people were killed and 15
wounded.
Explosions rocked the city again after dark Saturday. Eight people were
killed and 22 injured in the blasts, said Dr. Ahmed Khalil at Fallujah General
Hospital. The U.S. military could not immediately be reached for comment on the
blasts.
American troops have not entered Fallujah since ending a three-week siege of
the city in April that killed hundreds but have staged repeated attacks on sites
the U.S. military described as being used by al-Zarqawi's followers.
In a statement released on the Internet, al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group
said the death of its spiritual leader in a U.S. missile strike earlier this
month had only increased its determination to fight the United States and its
allies in Iraq.
The statement said the beheading of two American hostages last week was proof
that the group's campaign was not affected by the killing of Sheik Abu Anas
al-Shami, apparently when a U.S. missile hit his car in a western Baghdad suburb
Sept. 17.
"The beheading of the two Americans was our first signal that we will
continue and will not be deterred," said the statement, which was posted on a
Web site known for carrying communiques from Islamic militants.
Two senior officials of the Muslim Council of Britain arrived in Iraq's
capital on Saturday to try to win the freedom of Kenneth Bigley, a British civil
engineer who was kidnapped Sept. 16 with the two Americans who were slain.
Al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the abduction and demanded the
release of female Iraqi prisoners at American-controlled prisons — a move U.S.
officials have ruled out.
"We will do everything to contact them (the captors) while we are here," Daud
Abdullah, assistant secretary-general of the British council, told reporters
after talks at the British Embassy.
He conceded, however, that his delegation had not arranged any meetings with
Iraqi religious or political leaders and did not know whether they would be able
to reach the kidnappers.
"The message is simple, it's a humanitarian one ... he (Bigley) was a
noncombatant, Islam does not endorse the capture of noncombatants, let alone the
killing of them," Abdullah said.
A posting on an Islamic Internet site Saturday claimed al-Zarqawi's followers
had killed Bigley, but the Foreign Office in London said the claim was not
credible.
The little-known site tends to pick up claims from other sites and was among
the many to carry video footage of the beheadings of the two American civil
engineers — Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley — taken hostage with Bigley. It
also carried two shaky claims that militants had killed two Italian women aid
workers being held hostage.
In Cairo, Eygpt, a spokesman for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said
the government was working through religious and tribal contacts in hopes of
winning the release of six Egyptian telecommunications workers abducted with
four Iraqis in two incidents.
Relatives pleaded Saturday for the release of their loved ones. Neither they
nor Orascom, the telecommunications giant in Cairo with ties to all 10 workers
seized, had received any demands.
"We want to know at least what they want or what their conditions are," Asmaa
Abu al-Seoud, wife of captive Mahmoud Mustafa, told The Associated Press. "Our
daughters, Aya, who is 3, and Iman, who is only 1 1/2 months old, are waiting to
see their father."
More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq — some by anti-U.S.
insurgents and some by criminals seeking ransoms. At least 26 of them have been
killed. Many Iraqis have also been seized.
Insurgents released the dean of Iraq's Anbar University on Saturday, more
than a month after he was taken hostage, witnesses said. Abdulhadi Rajab
al-Heeti was released in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi.
Also, Iraqi police in Basra said Saturday that they had arrested three
kidnapping suspects and freed an Iraqi hostage who had been selling mobile
phones. Police said the suspects were part of a kidnapping gang but did not
provide other details.
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